


Another Time

by KingAlanI



Category: Hunger Games (2012), Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Clato - Freeform, F/M, Family, double everthorne, everthorne, galeniss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-03
Updated: 2015-06-28
Packaged: 2017-12-31 08:12:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 52,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1029364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingAlanI/pseuds/KingAlanI
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gale confesses his love for his dream woman just as his brother is starting to grow attached to her sister.</p><p>I'm adopting a story abandoned by Stella's Little Rebels. Chapters 1-14 with the exception of 10 include Stella's original rewritten in my style and with my headcanon; Chapter 15 onwards as well as Chapter 10 continue the story.</p><p>Both Everthornes are the major ships; Clato is secondary and doesn't show up until Chapter 10.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I'm An Idiot

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Another Time](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/30169) by Stella's Little Rebels. 



The Reapings for the 76th Annual Hunger Games came to an end in the dusty little corner of Panem known as District Twelve. As soon as Katniss realizes that none of their names were called, she relaxes. All 28 of her slips had escaped the perfect manicured nails of Effie Trinket forever. Prim and Rory's measly 3 each had escaped their third reaping; and as for Vick, his one slip escaped her nails as well. The crowd soon breaks up and the square is filled with the hustle and bustle of Peacekeepers trying to clean up. The Everdeen and Hawthorne families meet behind the Hob. Gale embraces Katniss in a bear hug.

 

“I told you that you’d be okay. See, Catnip, you will never go through the Games, not when I’m around,” he whispers into her ear. He had survived his first two reapings before she met him, and the last five afterwards, his final one being two years ago.

“I should’ve listened to you - you never lie,” she whispers back.

 

“Prim and Rory, will you go pick up the cookies from Mr. Mellark?” Mrs. Everdeen asks the two 14 year olds.

“Okay!” they exclaim in unison.

 

Gale and Katniss break from their embrace and face their families. When Gale doesn’t release her hand, Katniss has an elusive feeling she’s never felt before. She looks up to him and sees that he seems to be having a silent, eye-to-eye, conversation with Hazelle, his mother. Katniss notices that Hazelle nods and Gale smiles. Gale leans down and whispers into Katniss’ ear, “I need to take you somewhere.”

Before she can object, he whisks her away towards the direction of the meadow. A bundle of thoughts go through her mind at the time. _Why he is being so secretive? Where is he taking me? Why does his touch feel so good?_ To her it feels like sparks that would start a fire, yet some kind of odd serenity. They arrive at the meadow under a large tree, a willow, she thinks. Gale releases her hand and starts pacing. She watches him go back and forth, back and forth.

She finally sorting out her confusing thoughts and speaks, “Gale, what is this all about?”

“Uhhh... I need to know something, if you were forced to marry someone, anyone in the whole district, including Cray, Darius, one of the Mellark brothers, or anyone, who would it be?” Gale answered nervously.

Katniss was shocked – Gale knew that she had never wanted marriage. He knew that she would sooner go into the Hunger Games, a quick death instead of the slow death love brought her mother, but he hoped for an answer that would make him float away in happiness. “Gale! What is wrong with you? You know me better than anyone and you ask a stupid question like that!” she exclaims, addressing Gale with brutal honesty. Gale understood that attitude, but could almost feel his heart breaking. “But if I had to choose someone I guess it would be you,” she says, the last word barely audible, but his trained ears pick it up. Katniss of all people would know how sensitive his hearing was.

In a way, she was as nervous as he was. Katniss’ heart seems to grow to fill a gaping hole in it left by the death of her father - Gale's heart goes a long way towards healing the broken and scarred parts of hers. She cracks a slight grin, while he has a full-blown smile.

“Really?” he asks her with that smile he saves only for her.

“Yes. I feel so, well, I don't really know,” Katniss admitted.

“I love you,” he blurts out, causing all traces of smiles to leave.

“Gale, I... damn, I never wanted this to happen. You make things complicated!” Katniss confessed.

“Oh, I’m the one who makes things complicated! I blurt right out that I love you, and I'm the complicated one! Darn it, Katniss, I've loved you since the first time you laughed! I love every bit of you, the anger, the stubbornness, and all the heartache that you bring with you! But if I can get through that, I get the loving, caring, strong, girl, no _woman,_ you really are!” Gale said, ranting about something besides the Capitol’s injustices for once. “How could anyone who knows you as deeply as I do not fall in love with you?”

“The complicated part is that I love you too, idiot!” she exclaims. She then wraps her arms around his neck and smashes her lips into his. He instinctively wraps his arms around her waist and kisses back. They move as one, like they do in the woods.

 

He pulls back for air and sighs. “I really am an idiot,” he says. _For not saying this sooner?_ he wonders. Some young lovers were ready to marry after their last reapings, not merely confess their feelings at that point. That may have been too soon for Catnip even had he moved quicker. This choice of words left him feeling a bit devious. _What I want to do with this beautiful woman won’t be quick, oh no._

“I know,” she says, laughing ever quietly. She rests her head on his chest and grasps one of his hands with both of hers. “Why did you choose to take me here?” she asks as they’re holding hands sitting under the tree.

“Uhhh... Your mother told me to come here. This is where your father told your mother that he loved her,” he replied.

“Really?” Katniss wondered. “Wait, my mother? You mean that you have been planning this?” she realized.

“Since you were 16, right after that reaping, when you were wearing the blue dress and your hair was done beautifully. Your mother actually planned for you to wear the dress you are wearing now,” he explains, readying his ears in case she yells at him.

“That long? Why did my mother plan for me to wear this dress?” she asks, looking down at her cream colored, knee length dress with one-inch straps.

“That’s the dress she happened to be wearing when your father said that he loved her,” Gale explained with a special smile.

“Gale, you did all this for me? You didn't even know what I would say. Hell, I could've killed you!” she exclaims, making gestures with her hands.

“It would have been worth a shot. Plus you said you loved me back,” Gale countered.

“Anyway, what now for us? Are we together?” she questions, after a couple seconds of thinking about what he said.

“We’ve always been together in a way, so I’d say yes, but the question is do we tell everyone?”

“We should... I mean, think about it, Posy will tell everyone anyway. We will just be saving time and energy,” Katniss pointed out, thinking about Gale’s excitable little sister.

“Yeah, Posy does say things that she shouldn't a lot,” Gale admitted. _That’s one good reason to only make rebellious statements outside the district – Gale and Katniss didn’t know who would repeat what._ “Oh, just wait for the bets at the Hob to be paid,” he added.

That reminded Katniss of how many people expected to see them as a couple. “I know, I wonder how many lost those bets,” she said.

“Probably not a lot of people,” Gale suggested. _Someone had to take the other end of a bet, but there were probably a few doubters doing that for a lot of bets._

“Yeah... We should get going, they’ll think something wrong of it, and by ‘they’ I mean Prim and Rory,” she says while getting up along with Gale.

“They just have stupid, immature 14 year old minds,” Gale pointed out. _Though looking at Katniss’ glistening olive skin, he kind of wished his brother’s dirty mind was accurate._


	2. Tesserae

“It can be frustrating how our siblings have sort of grown up but not quite,” Katniss says with her voice trailing off. They have already reached the Hawthorne house. They hear Posy screaming at Vick about a toy he took.

“I know Catnip, I know. Now let's go get their teasing out of the way,” he replies. When they get inside they are surprised to hear Mrs. Everdeen with a raised voice at Prim and Hazelle to Rory. Both mothers were yelling about how long they had taken, and how the cookies were supposed to be warm. Katniss predicts that they just got back.

“But Katniss and Gale just got back!” Prim snaps at her mother, pointing to them.

“Yeah! Who knows what they could have been doing, I mean think about it, they are always in the woods alone! Who knows what they do!” Rory yells in agreement. The couple, who were still holding hands, both now were blushing.

Then Gale gets angry at Rory. “Rory! 'Who knows what they do!' I'll tell you what we do! We risk our lives every day to make sure you eat! That you have full stomachs and that you don't starve to death like a lot of other Seam kids do! If we do what you think we are, then you would starve to death! And then you raise your voice at Mom! She is just telling you what needs to be said! Who knows what you and Prim could have been doing for goodness sakes!” He yells while Prim and Rory both blush a deep shade of crimson. “Rory, just go to your room. We will talk more later,” he says more calmly.

“Prim, I've never seen you so disrespectful. What the hell has gotten into you?” Katniss hisses as she grabs her hand, after releasing Gale's. “I'll see you tomorrow, Gale,” she add hurriedly, getting onto her toes and kissing him.

“Bye Catnip. I'll see you tomorrow. Same time, same place,” He says with a heavy sigh.

"Same time, same place," She replies leading Prim out the door. "Primrose, we are going to have a long talk when we get home." She says. They reach their Seam home quickly. Mrs. Everdeen retreats to the restroom.

“What?! I didn't do anything wrong!” Prim yells at Katniss.

“Are you sure about that? You have never been so disrespectful! Prim, I usually wouldn't yell at you, but in recent weeks, you have just gotten worse and worse! You aren't allowed to hang out with any of your friends for a week. You will walk home with the Hawthornes until I come back from the woods each day. I want to know why you took long enough to make Mother angry. I haven't seen her like that in several years. You must've done something to make her really angry,” Katniss ranted.

“Well, I didn't tell her everything. Rory and I kind of signed up tesserae,” Prim says in a very quiet voice.

 

Katniss’ face flushed at the shocking news. She sat on the ground and pulled her knees to her chest. A few tears crawled their way down her face. Prim wiped them away and rubbed her back. Katniss whispered, "Why?"

“Rory wanted to take enough Tesserae for both of our families. I didn't let him take it all, so we split it evenly,” Prim explained.

That just shifted the question, and Katniss’ anger flashed. "WHY DID HE WANT TO DO IT PRIM?!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. She honestly was surprised that Prim hadn't burst into tears yet, but instead Katniss had.

“Because Gale and you can't! He wanted to make sure we had enough to eat! Without it, do you know what we would do?! We can barely make it by on game alone, and without tesserae, WE'RE SCREWED!” Prim explained, her voice also getting louder. _Katniss wasn’t about to admit that her sister had a point._

“Primrose! I can't believe it! Gale and I have taken all of this on so you wouldn't have to! Now you just go and increase the chance to be taken away from us! I know Rory is strong and can win if he does go in, but you Prim, you are like a doll! You could get killed. Prim, I couldn't live without you. You don't know what would happen to me,” Katniss says, tears now pouring down her face.

Just as Prim was about to respond, Gale burst in with a death grip on Rory's arm. It didn't really hurt him because he too knows how to hunt, and because of the training, he had become quite muscular. Prim had never seen Gale as mad as he was, and that was speaking volumes. When Gale saw Katniss on the ground crying, he released Rory, got down next to her, and hugged her.

 

Prim got up and stood next to Rory. She just noticed that Rory had a cut on his arm. “Let me clean that up for you,” she whispered, “We have enough time, Katniss doesn't look like she'll stop any time soon.”

“Okay,” Rory agreed meekly.

“Follow me to the kitchen,” Prim ordered. They went to the kitchen and Prim got the supplies while Rory sat down and sighed.

“Why did we do this, Prim? We caused the pain. You should have seen my mom. She burst into tears and left the room. Vick was so angry at me and didn't say another word. And Gale... well, I have a few cuts to show what he did. He has never been so upset before. I shouldn't have told you what I was planning to do. When I told Gale you took half of it, he grabbed my arm and dragged me over here,” Rory unloaded.

“Rory, we did what we did, and we can't change it. If we go into the games, I guess I will die, but you should know that there is no changing that. My soul will live on. I know it would hurt it a lot of people, but they can't change that,” Prim said.

“NO! You won't die! You are going to learn to kill Prim! Come to the woods and I'll teach you how to shoot a bow! You are tough as it is now, you don't cry anymore when you see an animal dying!” Rory countered with the kid of fury he undoubtedly learned from his brother.

“You are an idiot, Rory,” Prim countered.

“Fine then, I bet you would burst into tears if you were the one to shoot an animal with an arrow,” Rory said.

“Really? Okay, let's bet on it. If I can shoot an animal in the woods tomorrow without crying, you have to get me a new hair ribbon,” Prim said to take Rory up on the offer.

“And if you cry, you watch Posy for 2 weeks,” Rory said to up the stakes. _Though considering how nurturing she was, that might not be much of a punishment._

“Okay, deal. I want a baby pink ribbon for when you lose,” Prim replied confidently.

 

They hear Katniss speaking to Gale in the next room. “You two are staying here tonight. Rory will sleep on the couch, and you'll sleep with me,” Katniss announces. Prim and Rory look to each other and burst into giggles.

“Are you sure…,” Gale wheedles with an air of mock dismay.

“I always mean what I say,” Katniss points out.

“Catnip…,” Gale continues in the same tone of voice.

“Go tell Rory. Your mom will figure out that you're here. It'll be just fine. Now go tell him,” Katniss suggested.

“Already heard you!” Rory shouts to the next room. Prim, who hadn't fully recovered from the giggles yet, started really laughing.

“Don't worry! We heard most of your conversation! And Katniss and I agree with you Rory, Prim would burst into tears!” Gale yells back. This makes Prim stop laughing and Rory start.

“Looks like I'll have even more ribbon now! Get ready to lose!” Prim shouts, causing even Katniss to laugh.


	3. Badassery

The next day, the group of four went quite deep in the woods. Since the reaping hadn't even been 24 hours ago, they had the day off. Prim and Rory spent the night in the living room, talking about many random things. They were interrupted several times by Katniss and Gale, who had been "fooling around," or so to speak. The smirks turned into disgusted looks. Katniss and Gale had even surprised themselves at what they did, but they didn't regret it. Katniss wasn't mad today about last night's news, actually when she brought it up she seemed her normal self. And Gale was just the same.

In previous years Katniss had taken Prim out to the woods to shoot with the same bow she had learned on. _An auspicious start._ Prim surprised Katniss with her excellent aim, but brushed it off as beginner's luck.

 

Gale and Katniss had agreed on Prim’s punishment if she lost the bet. If Prim cried, she would have to skin the kills for a month, and Prim and Rory wouldn't be allowed near each other for a week. When they said this, Prim looked like her older sister does when angry. Prim had clenched her fists and stomped to her and Katniss's room and changed her clothes. She tore off the pink blouse and put on an old black shirt of Katniss’. Prim was already wearing her old green pants. Prim had the blonde hair, blue eyes and pale skin of the Merchant Section, instead of the back hair, gray eyes, and olive skin of the Seam. Otherwise she looked like a mini-Katniss.

 

Prim went to the woods still in a bad mood. Prim was a lot like Katniss like that. She had an anger that could kill. Prim also had stealthy feet and good hearing. When the group of four reached an area that was abundant in game, Prim snatched the bow and arrow from Katniss and aimed at a wild turkey. Prim had put all her focus into this, and shot. The other three were in shock. Prim had shot it, straight in the eye like Katniss would have. What had surprised them most was that she wasn't crying, but instead loading the bow again and walking away to find more game.

Rory observed this and leaned into Katniss’ ear. Even four years younger, he was already a few inches taller. “Did she just kill something and not cry?” Rory whispered.

“I've never been more proud,” Katniss whispered back.

 

“She is so much like you it's creepy,” Gale told Katniss about her sister. “Rory, go find Prim. Katniss and I will take care of the snare run," Gale instructed. Gale had snapped out of his shock pretty fast, and was already grabbing Katniss to go to the snare line. Gale's touch had snapped Katniss out of it.

“Did that really happen?” she asked after them and Rory parted ways.

“Yes it did. And I'm just as surprised as you,” Gale answered.

“She grew up too fast. This just proves that she knew what she was doing when she took out the tesserae,” Prim observed.

“I know. Prim would've talked Rory out of it had she not thought it was the right thing,” Gale agreed.

 

After about 10 minutes, Rory catches up with Prim. She still hasn't cried, hell, she looks happy even. She is bending down over something large and black. When he gets a closer look at it, he realizes what it is. A large, male black bear.

“Prim! Get away from it! It might be alive!” Rory advised anxiously, worried about the girl that was not only his girlfriend but the sister of his brother’s girlfriend. _Apparently Everdeen girls have good taste in boys_ , he observed to himself.

Prim doesn't even jump at his voice. She turns around and she has a smile on her face.

“It's okay, Rory. I shot it twice. Once in the eye and once in the neck.” When he glances at it, he notes the puncture wounds.

“How the... Why the... What the fu...?!” Rory says, in shock but in a good way.

“It was about to take my rabbit,” Prim pointed out nonchalantly, holding up the rabbit, which was missing an eye.

“Prim, what is up with you? You just killed a bear! How are we supposed to carry a huge black bear like that?” he exclaims. _Even your big strong Rory doesn’t want to carry that much critter_ , he thinks to himself. _It’d be a shame to abandon it, even if we could field-butcher some of it and leave the rest._

“The end of the snare run isn't too far away. Gale and Katniss aren't far away. You should run to go find them, and I'll stay here,” Prim suggests.

“Uhhh... okay...,” Rory stutters, before running off to find the older pair. He comes across them not even 5 minutes away. Rory is still in shock, and barely stutters out, “Prim.. she... sh-shot... a-a-a...” Gale and Katniss look at each other and were already sprinting in the direction Rory came from by the time Rory gets the rest of it out. “bear!”

 

Katniss and Gale reach Prim in less than 2 minutes. Katniss stands in complete shock when she sees what Prim has shot. Gale looks at the black bear suspiciously. At first he thinks Prim and Rory are pulling his leg, but when he sees Prim, he was convinced otherwise. Prim has blood on her hands and is cleaning the arrows.

“Prim, why are you like this? You would be crying normally. Prim, you need to tell us what's wrong. We'll take you to Mother if you ate something bad,” Katniss says calmly, while Gale still inspects the bear.

At this, Prim clenches her fists, breaking the arrow she was cleaning. “You wanna know why I'm like this?! I hate being known as Katniss's crying wimpy little sister! I want to be known as my own person, not just a sibling. Have you seen me lately at school?! Rory, explain to them what happened at school last week!” she snapped.

“But Prim, you said...” he starts, just to be cut off.

“I KNOW WHAT I SAID!” Prim bellows in a volume that even Gale isn’t used to.

 

Rory begins the story. “She snapped. Some girl called her a whiny little bitch, just came by and said that. Prim punched her square in the nose. It was some 16 year old, and Prim wasn’t about to take any nonsense from someone who thinks she’s better because she’s two years older. Prim was playing around with our friends and pretended to whine. Prim's been like you Katniss.”

 

Katniss and Gale stand there in shock. Prim is different. Katniss never wanted Prim to have to struggle or be picked on. By Katniss making sure she didn't struggle, Prim was picked on. Prim stood up for herself. The girl who Katniss spent her life protecting didn't need it any more. Katniss looked to Gale.

 

Gale says what they were both thinking. “Let's take the bear to the pelts guy, and then we'll save half of the meat and sell the rest at The Hob. The meat could feed us for a couple of weeks,” he says to no one in particular. The other three nod their heads, Gale and Rory grab the bear, and head back to town. They somehow manage to avoid Peacekeepers and other authorities. _Knowing the authorities here, they may have just wanted a piece for themselves, but there were always a few Capitol loyalists around, especially in the setup, managing and cleanup for Reaping Day._

 

“Well, I haven't you two bring something that large in for a while,” the pelts guy observed. Only had to shoot it twice? Good job love birds,” he says when he examines the bear.

“We didn't shoot it. Prim did. And how did you hear about us?” Katniss says.

"Word gets around. And by that, I mean the baker’s son heard from his father who heard from your mother. Now what do ya mean little Prim shot it?” Rory sighed. He was afraid of Prim right now. She was being like Katniss was at her age.

“I shot the god damn thing! Now if you don't mind, I'm going outside,” she huffed.

“Okay, Prim, just watch your tongue,” Katniss sighed.

“I'll go with!” Rory volunteered before Prim could talk back to her.

Be careful and don't do anything stupid.” Gale says, only loud enough for Rory to hear.

“Okay,” Rory agrees. The younger ‘love birds’ left, leaving the older pair alone with the pelts guy.

“Prim grew up fast,” the man said.

“It was a shock to us, too,” Gale says hurriedly. “Now, how much for the pelt?” he asks.

"Hmmm... This is a really good pelt here. Young adult male, I'd say 120 coins," the man responds. The coin he was talking about was obviously the two-credit bronze assarion. Katniss's jaw dropped. They had never earned that much at once. Not to mention that he skinned the animals for you. Paying well wasn't a problem for the pelts guy though; he was the second richest merchant in town because of people buying his pelts for District Twelve’s cold winters. _Even some Peacekeepers did; what was wrong with their uniforms?_

“Throw in some of that meat too, and you'll earn 30 more coins,” he added.

“How much meat of it, exactly?” Gale asks. They weren’t at The Hob, but Gale was preparing for a hard bargaining session nevertheless

“Half,” the pelts guy stated simply. 60 credits was low for a few dozen pounds of meat and they both knew it

“Make it 80 coins and you have a deal,” Gale countered. While 60 credits was low for a few dozen pounds of meat, would the pelts guy consider 160 to be too high? Gale knew it would’ve been a moot point with Rooba the butcher. She offered one price, take it or leave it. Gale hoped to squeeze out a better deal. _And only drag the carcass to one place_ , his shoulders told him.

“Fine,” the pelts guy said, keeping it simple.

 

When the bargaining is over, the man simply skins the dead beast and takes his fair share of the meat. He hands the large number of coins and the meat to Gale and Katniss. They didn’t actually get the 400 credits all as assarions. There was 80 credits of bronze – the assarion, its double and fractions. The rest was in silver denarii and their smaller variants. It added up to the same amount, a very large one even for these experienced hunters, all thanks to a beginner in their craft.

“Thanks. We'll see you around,” Gale says.

“Don't mention it. But I expect to be invited to your wedding!” He calls after them cheerfully, but the pair just sulk off after that.


	4. Surprises

Katniss and Gale saw no sign of Prim and Rory so they headed toward Katniss’ home. Once they got inside, they realized it was empty. Katniss saw a note on the table and recognized her mother’s handwriting. _Gone to the other side of the district for the night. I'll explain tomorrow. Gale can spend the night, just be careful._ Katniss grinned at the note as she handed it it to Gale.

Gale started to laugh as he read it. _I left so you two don’t have to be careful_ , he translates in his head. “Your mom sure knows us. But one little note won’t stop me from this,” he says as he wraps his arms around Katniss, dipping her and kisses her. He pulls back and smiles. “I love you more than anything in the whole of Panem. You mean everything to me. I would die for you. Katniss, I would find it hard to live without you. Will you marry me?”

They stood up straight and Katniss let the volume of his beautiful words sink in. She never wanted this, marriage or love. But now she was just proposed to and she is in love with her best friend. She wanted to scream yes as loud as possible, but couldn’t open her mouth soon enough. She opened and closed her mouth like a fish, then finally formed the word and says it. The “Yes.” barely came out as a whisper.

“Who am I kidding?! I just announced that I love you yesterday...,” he starts.

She cut him off with “Gale! I said yes!”

“Huh?” Gale said, pleasantly stunned this actually worked.

“Yes, I’ll marry you!” she yells.

 

“What?!” Katniss heard from behind her. She turned to see Prim and Rory. They were wide eyed and smirking at the same time.

“Gale just proposed,” she simply stated. They had undoubtedly heard, and the ‘what’ as a sign of shock rather than confusion, but Katniss had decided to take it literally.

“And I think we’re engaged,” Gale says, who still hasn’t recovered from shock himself.

“Yes we are, Gale,” she tells him.

 

“Congratulations!” Prim shrilled. She ran up and gave Katniss a hug. Katniss noted the new hair ribbon and smiled. _The old Prim is back._ “Come on! I have to show you a dress of Mom’s she told me to show you when you were engaged!” She pulls Katniss off to their mother’s room, leaving Rory and Gale.

“Guess Hawthorne boys can’t help but fall for those Everdeen girls,” Gale wondered aloud to his oldest younger brother.

“What do you mean?” Rory questioned. _His brother couldn’t have known it was the flip side of what he had thought in the woods earlier that day._

“You say Prim’s name every night in your sleep. It’s pretty obvious that you love her. Plus I saw the pink ribbon,” Gale says.

“You did? Don’t tell your future wife about my apparent crush,” Rory counters while admitting the truth.

“Can you believe that Miss Katniss Everdeen will be Mrs. Katniss Hawthorne one day soon?” Gale marveled.

“Who said soon? You just proposed!” Rory said.

“We have the money now. Why not? We have 200 coins, which can pay for a lot,” Gale explained.

“You guys should wait at least a month. Word has to get around that you are together first,” Rory suggested.

“Sure. Rory... I’ll take advice in love from a boy who’s 14 years old, who not to mention has _not_ carried the ‘King of the Slag Heap’ Hawthorne tradition going,” Gale countered. _Though Prim by herself may be more than enough for Rory. Gale had eventually learned that Katniss alone was more than enough for him._

“That's Vick’s job, he doesn’t know he loves,” Rory offered.

“Whatever you say!” Gale said.

 

Katniss and Gale had decided to tell the rest of their families four weeks after their engagement. They wanted to keep it secret from the district for as long as they could, but that didn’t work. Six weeks after they became engaged, the whole district knew. One time when they simply walked into the Hob they were greeted with loud cheers. At first they didn’t know what was going on, but when they reached Greasy Sae they knew why. On that particular day, two of the three seats at her stall were taken up, so Katniss had to resort to sitting on Gale’s lap. Greasy Sae simply looked at them and said, “I knew it. Rumors been flying around left and right. Why’d you propose, boy? You knock 'er up?” Katniss had freaked out; she spit the soup in her mouth out. Gale had froze. He wanted kids but not like that.

“Uhhh... Sae, I'm not pregnant, at least I don't think I am,” she explained.

Darius, who happened to be sitting next to them, laughed. “You don’t think you are? Wow! Don’t come crying to us when you don't know what to do with a kid in a few months!” He laughed.

“I’m not pregnant! Don’t make get Prim on you! She can take down a bear!" she exclaimed.

“Yeah, sure. And I have blue hair! Good one Katniss!” he laughed again.

“What did you say about my future sister-in-law?” Gale asked through gritted teeth.

“It's okay, Hawthorne! Just joking around!”

“We’re not laughing,” Gale stated as the talk with their business associates got ever more personal.

“Gee, _sorry_!” Darius hissed. “I’ll just go now. See ya later Sae,” he said, paying Sae and sulking away. Katniss stayed on Gale’s lap even though there was another empty seat.

“You sure you're not pregnant?” he whispers into her ear.

“Yes, Gale, I’m sure I’d know by now,” Katniss insisted.

“I don’t know... we did it only a few weeks ago...no protection and it's too early to tell..." he whispers.

“Gale, _drop it!_ I’ll have my mother look out for any signs,” she hisses.

“Let's go home, I want to talk to Posy about our relationship. I think she thinks that you’ll move in with us when we marry...”

“It’s okay, Gale, come on.” They finish their soup, pay Sae, and walk hand in hand together towards the Hawthorne shack.

 

They looked for Posy and tried to prepare for the inevitable waterworks. Gale picks Posy up and walks her to the kitchen. They sat her down in front of them and Gale was the first to talk to her. “Posy, you know how we said that Katniss and me are in love?”

“Is Katniss pregnant?” she asked, swinging her legs back and forth.

 

Unfortunately, Hazelle just so happened to pick this exact moment to come inside from gathering some laundry. “Yes Gale, is Kat pregnant?” she asks, smirking, leaning against the counter with her arms folded across her chest.

“Why is everyone asking that today?” Katniss wonders aloud, finally having had enough of hearing it.

“Everyone?” Hazelle asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, Greasy Sae says that the current rumor at the Hob is that I only proposed because Katniss was pregnant,” Gale explains.

“Is that true?” his mother wondered.

“I proposed to her because I love her!” he announced especially for the benefit of that ‘her’.

“Oh, I knew that already. I want to know if I’m expecting a grandbaby yet,” admitted the woman who was already Mrs. Hawthorne.

“Well... I don’t exactly know, Hazelle. I don’t exactly want to know,” Katniss replied. “If you want grandbabies, you might expect Prim and Rory to give you them sooner than us,” she said before thinking. She covered her mouth and went wide eyed. “Did I really just say that?” Gale burst out laughing and Posy sat there confused.

“It’s okay, Katniss. Don’t worry, I’m not exactly expecting you to give me grandkids right away. Just having you as a part of the family is good enough. Besides, Rory and Prim will probably get married at 16 if they wanted to. Those are the ones I expect more grandbabies from.”

 

“Wait, is Katniss having a baby?” Posy questioned - she was working on sorting her confusion out.

“Uhhh... no, little Posy... but Katniss and I have something to tell you,” Gale says, turning his attention back to his little sister. “So... you know how much I really absolutely cherish, adore, and love Katniss?”

“Yeah?” Posy said.

“You know how we’re getting married, right?” Katniss asked.

“Yes?” Posy said, still following the conversation.

“Well when we marry, Katniss and I have to move out,” Gale explained.

“With who?” Posy wondered.

“It’ll just be me and Katniss then. We won’t live with you anymore,” Gale continues. He watched the confusion, understanding and then a smile float across her face. Now it was Gale’s turn to be confused. He thought she was going to throw a fit.

“If it is just you two, does that mean you’ll have a baby?” she asked, still smiling. Katniss sighed; Posy was not giving up on the baby thing. _It seems like everyone except Katniss sees that she’ll be a wonderful mother_ , Gale thought angrily to himself. _Yet I know better than to push it, since she’ll be the one who will have to push it out_ , his thoughts continued, his anger calming a bit with the amusing choice of words.

 

“One day we’ll have a little baby,” Katniss responded.

“We will?” Gale asked, overjoyed to hear her admit it, even if the time wasn’t now.

“Yes, Gale!” Katniss agreed cheerfully. “Posy, do you understand now?”

“Yes! So I will be an auntie one day?” Posy said.

“Sure Pose, now run along and play,” Gale responded.

 

After she left, Gale turned to speak with Katniss. “So, we will have kids?” he asked. Katniss hadn’t really been thinking about kids too much; she barely realized she said that they would have one.

“I don’t know, Gale. We are barely engaged. All I know is that I love you,” she told him. He smiled; he might be a dad after all.

“I love you too. And by the way you handled Posy; you will turn out to be an amazing mother if we have children,” Gale added. _And your dedication to Prim for years_ , he thought but didn’t say because they both knew it.

“You’d be an amazing father. But don’t expect kids yet - I still have another month of school left,” Katniss said.

“Speaking of school, have you talked to your school friend the mayor’s daughter about the marriage certificate yet?” Gale asked, with obvious distaste for the relatively well off Townie.

“Her name is Madge. She is really kind, Gale! Get used to me being friends with her, or else you will not be sleeping with me the day of our wedding! And I did not speak to her yet,” she responded, having something a bit like a mood swing.

“Sorry, Katniss! I think you need to go talk to your mother...,” Gale countered.

“Are you mad at me? I'm sorry!” she exclaimed, burying her head into him.

“It's okay, Catnip. Let’s go speak to your mother,” he said, scooping her up and walking towards her house. He encountered several people who rolled their eyes at the sight of them. At some point, Katniss had fallen asleep in his arms.

 

When he reached the Everdeen house, Mrs. Everdeen had just opened the door to get some fresh air. “What happened, Gale?” she simply asked, when he came inside. He gently laid her on the couch.

“She’s having something like mood swings,” Gale explained.

“Is she pregnant?” Mrs. Ingrid Everdeen analyzed.

 Gale sighed. Everyone was thinking that for some reason. “You know you are the 5th person to ask that today? I don’t know. That's why I wanted to talk to you - you would know better than anyone else.”

The woman who was already a mother sighed. She personally believed that her daughter was pregnant. Katniss had been eating weird foods, throwing up in the morning, and Ingrid was almost certain that her oldest daughter missed her period. “I think she is... I’ll try and convince her to take a test. Gale, do you know what she’ll try and do?”

“Kill me?” Gale guessed.

“Or someone else. Kids have always been a very sensitive subject for her. I brought it up about a month ago and she freaked out. She ran off to the woods,” Ingrid admitted with a resigned tone in her voice.

“She just told Posy she might have a baby one day. Many people today have been talking about kids today around her and she got very tense,” Gale explained.

“And by the looks of it, I'm going to be a grandmother in about seven and a half months. Mood swings. Very common in pregnancies. You should be very careful about your wording,” Ingrid advised.

“That seven and a half sounds awfully exact… You know what day we...,” Gale’s voice trails off, realizing what he was saying, and blushing.

“Of course. I was here. I heard you two going at it,” Ingrid says with a smile, not even blushing.

“You don't mind? I mean, you know, that, I did _it_ with your daughter?” he asks, rubbing the back of his neck. The poor boy was the most embarrassed he had ever been.

“Of course not. I was always expecting to share all my grandbabies with Hazelle, so I knew _that_ would happen between you two sooner rather than later. I fell for her father nearly as quickly, although it was a couple years before we had her,” Ingrid explained. Gale chuckled, being in a very good mood, especially by his standards. So apparently everyone now knows about Rory and Prim’s apparent crushes for one another.

 

Gale couldn’t wait until he was a father. Hell, apparently he would be one in seven and a half months. He would love to wake up to a little girl or boy bouncing in the bed he shared with his wife, a child who was the perfect mixture of the two of them. He would love to fall asleep with Katniss in his arms, and to wake up with her still there. This was the beginning of his life now, in which he’d be married to the woman of his dreams, who might be pregnant with his child.

“I hope she is pregnant. Probably the only way I’ll be a father is by accident,” he told his future mother-in-law.

“Well, once she does have a baby, she may want another. A mother’s love is very strong. When I was her age, I never wanted kids. Yet I was a few years older than you two are now by the time I met her father, and once we had her, I definitely wanted another. She should be pregnant - the tea I gave her the morning before the reaping makes a woman more fertile.”

Gale, who had been drinking water, spit it out in shock. _Did she want grandbabies that bad?_ he thought to himself. “How did you know we were going to do it?”

“Gale, she’ll say your name when she sleeps. Of course I knew. I plan many different things without people knowing,” Ingrid explained.

“You are really smart,” Gale complimented.

“I know, Gale,” she agreed.

 

“Did you leave that note and hide to help soothe your daughter’s anxiety?” Gale whispered, in case that daughter, his bride-to-be, wasn’t as asleep as he thought.

“You’ve always been rather direct. Yes,” Ingrid admitted at similarly low volume.

“I hear all these jokes about in-laws, but it seems I’m getting the best ones in the world,” Gale said in awe.

“Thank you. Once I had children, I resolved to support their love lives, unlike how I had been shunned for my relationship with their father. I admit I may have gone too far in that direction,” Ingrid said.

“Fine by me,” Gale said. _Considering how far I got to go with your downright sexy daughter_ , he thought, but this conversation was embarrassingly personal enough already.

 

“I’m certainly smart enough to help plan a wedding,” she added with a smile. She was definitely smiling more lately, from seeing how in love her daughters were. “This does seem like a good time of year – except for the mass post-Reaping ceremony on August 2nd, the Justice Building isn’t very busy. That’s one reason Jacob and I were glad to go on April 18th.”

“And not pissing off those hateful bastards in town even more than they already were,” Gale added with his typical anger.

“And that,” Ingrid admitted. “You both have the Seam look, but Prim and I will of course be there, and maybe Madge, and it’s not yet time to start a riot.” _As far as Gale was concerned, it was always time to start a riot, but Ingrid had a point in wondering if it would do any good._

“I met her on October 7th six years ago,” Gale said wistfully.

 

“Your Catnip remembers it like it was yesterday,” his fiancée said softly as she awoke.

“I guess that’s settled then. The date’s only a bit over three weeks out, you two,” Ingrid adds cheerfully.

“Now I really will ask Madge about the paperwork the next time I see her,” Katniss said defensively.

“And the dress, the officials handle the rentals as well as the marital paperwork itself,” Ingrid said, thinking of another detail.

However, Katniss had another idea. “The cream one I wore when he made me so happy the first time.”

 

Gale began thinking to himself. _You weren’t wearing it by the time I made you really happy_. _How much you finally wanted me to dissolve the last barrier in our relationship, like I had ached to do for years. How you smiled through the pain as you molded your body with that of the man you thought you already knew. How when I slid out of you with my seed still fresh, you deliriously pulled me back in…_

 

He was blushing a bit even without stating these thoughts aloud. “Thinking ahead to the wedding _night_ , are we?” Ingrid wondered, and Gale definitely started blushing now.

“No,” Gale said, actually honestly.

“Anyway, that’ll do quite nicely, I take it Gale already told you how much that dress means to me too,” Ingrid said. “Now, with the bear money, it’s up to you how much food you want.”

 

“Now go check on Prim and Rory. They’ve been in the woods all day,” Ingrid ordered. “Gale, just you, my other daughter is obviously very tired.” Prim and Rory _had_ been doing a lot of the hunting together recently, both because of their budding relationship and skills, and the state that Katniss was in. Many people have been getting suspicious. However, since those two families combined to feed most of the Seam, no one had complained because the food kept coming in, whichever particular members of those families were bringing it in.

 

Gale found his brother and future sister-in-law hunched close together taking a break on the walk back. “Hi there, little duck and her drake,” Gale greeted. Prim’s nickname came from wearing her blouses with a ducktail hanging out the back, as she was right now in fact, but referencing the waterfowl became obvious enough, and a drake was a male duck.

“Quack,” Prim answered cheerfully.

“Your sister and I are getting married on October 7th,” he said, making Prim and Rory the first guests besides Ingrid to know.

Prim did some mental calculations and announced “A Wednesday, huh? So I get to get out of school and be happy with my big sister?”

“You really are a smart young woman,” Rory agreed, laughing.

 

Gale let the two of them into the Hob alone. They could use the practice of working with their fellow traders by themselves. Also, no one would cheat darling Prim, and Gale remembered that the traders had gone easy on him and Katniss back when they were new.

 

However, he took the strawberries to Madge himself, pocketing the few double assarions before getting down to the other business. “October 7th will be exactly when I get to marry Katniss,” he said cheerfully.

“I’m…I’m happy you found someone as good as her,” Madge stammered, and Gale got to thinking. _A lot of girls were jealous that Katniss was getting me, but Madge wasn’t one of them, so she was probably different. Maybe she was one of the few others who saw Katniss’ virtues._

“Are you jealous of Katniss for getting me, or are you jealous of me for getting Katniss?” Gale accused.

Even with Gale’s usually harsh tone of voice, Madge softened. “I’m glad someone has figured _that_ out,” she announced.

“Well, _that_ ’s something you’ll have to tell her yourself. I must say, you’re smarter than I thought, Townie.” _Like Rory, she was onto something in being attracted to one of the Everdeen young women._ “And Katniss won’t need a rental dress,” he said, telling Madge all she needed to know. _Maybe my bride or her mother could tell that story during the ceremony_ , Gale thought, being given a new idea.

 

In a few days, Gale managed to bring Katniss with him to ‘Fort Undersee’. “Madge has something to tell you,” he successfully insisted.

“Katniss, I love you too. Yes. That way. There are some women who love women – unfortunately for me, and fortunately for Gale, you are not one of them,” Madge said to get that off her chest and let it sink in before Katniss could shoot back.

“Wow,” was about all Katniss could say. “You’d make a pretty and sweet wife for someone else, then. I must really be as desirable as Gale insists, if even a girl from the other side of the district could fall in love with me.”

“You’re both right,” Madge said.

“But it only takes one to think I’m as pretty as Sapphire Silversmith,” Katniss pointed out. Both the straight man and the gay woman lifted their ears at the mention of the tall curvy District One victor from five years ago.

“Because you are,” two voices said in unison. Gale and Madge congratulated each other for that one.

“Apparently I have two,” Katniss laughed.

“May the odds be ever in your favor, you two,” Madge finished.

 

Some of the girls at school talked like that about Finnick Odair from twelve years ago, maybe Cato Adams from two years ago or Patrick Lazare II from last year, especially now that Katniss had made Gale unavailable.

 

The weeks came and went. Hopefully Katniss’ mood would swing towards the better for her own wedding. Gale delayed signing up at the mines, if only to not have to work on what would have been his own wedding day. With two more hunters, maybe Gale really could continue to avoid that entirely, which his father and the man who would’ve been his father-in-law had tragically been unable to do. They would be damn proud that their gifts to their children had blossomed so.

 

The morning of the 7th, in time to say their vows by 10:07, they walked into the main hall of the Justice Building. Katniss looked even more beautiful in that dress this day. Gale smoothed his simple white shirt again, the same outfit as August 1st for him as well.

They saw pretty much everyone they knew from the Hob. Prim and Rory smiled, probably having told everyone there the date and time in preparation for exactly this.

Cray just happened to assign himself and fellow look-the-other-way Peacekeepers like Purnia and Darius to Justice Building security today.

Ripper the one-armed liquor vendor had her best customer Haymitch leaning on her, already unable to stand even at this hour. Greasy Sae – for such a special occasion, she might actually put regular meat in the soup. Her granddaughter wasn’t quite typical in the head, but the Hob folks liked her anyway, and right now she was one of the prettiest girls in the room. The pelt man was there, knowing his money was indirectly paying for some of the festivities. Rooba, annoyed that she lost the deal, was still glad to cheer on her partners-in-crime. There were some other faces irregular enough that even Katniss and Gale didn’t know them by name.

 

“Right now, my daughter is wearing the same dress I happened to be wearing when her father said he loved me,” Ingrid said tearfully. “I made sure she was wearing it for her last reaping just this summer so Gale could make her just as happy in it. I birthed only daughters, but I nevertheless have a wonderful son.”

 

Gale and Katniss stood together at the front of the hall, holding both pairs of hands as they faced each other. The ritual statements were second nature to their mothers, and they read them together. It ended with “Will you honor and cherish the one you’ve chosen, throughout all the highs and lows this life presents you with?”

            They responded in unison: “I will.”

 

Out of the corner of their eyes, the newlyweds saw Prim wave to Rory. As Katniss and Gale kissed for the first time as husband and wife, Prim and Rory kissed for the first time at all.


	5. A Day In The Woods

            “Seeing you two together was the expected, obvious thing,” Greasy Sae admits to Katniss. “But with good reason, apparently,” she says more cheerfully. “So many of your circumstances make you a wonderful fit for each other, it wouldn’t make sense to reject that just because,” she adds.

            “I suppose so,” Katniss agrees.

            “You’re quite a rebel, but for the right reasons,” Sae whispers.

 

            As Katniss turned to her very favorite of the guests, she said “I totally saw what you did there, Little Duck!”

Prim was brimming with cheer as she said “He is cute … and nice … and I see why you love Gale so much.”

“If he’s anything like his brother, watch out for a wild ride. We both knew you two had huge crushes on each other,” Katniss explained.

 

“Little Man, I always wanted to make sure you behaved around the ladies when the time came, but especially this one, got it?” Gale advised Rory in a deadly serious tone of voice that wasn’t angry, at least not for him. “The person most important to my significant other is your significant other.”

 

Katniss and Gale had been assigned another Seam shack, and Prim and Rory were right behind them on the way there. The oldest Mellark son was nearby, delivering the pastries and cakes the newlyweds had ordered to go with their usual game. The sugar was especially sweet on Seam tongues wholly unused to it.

 

Yet right now Katniss wanted to be alone with Gale. No, not for _that_ , not quite yet. No one in District Twelve really felt married without the toasting, even with the marriage certificate signed and witnessed. The new couple went home to make a fire and toast bread with it. Yet while, they knew their real home was in the woods.

 

Katniss and Gale managed to hide from their admirers, even though two of them, Prim and Rory of course, had insisted on following them through the fence. “I think that spot over there would make a good fire pit,” Gale suggested while pointing. Katniss noticed it was far enough away from anything else that would catch, while also able to hide the smoke. _Everything about his body seems to say he wants mine, but his man’s instincts aren’t dulling his hunter’s memory_ , Katniss realized.

When they reached that location, Gale built up a pile of wood shavings and laid some twigs against each other on top of the pile. Katniss rubbed two pieces of wood against each other to generate a spark for it. The fire gradually came to life. Prim and Rory were plenty familiar with such basic outdoor skills by now.

Gale went in his bag to get out bread for the toasting – while they could afford a nice loaf for this at least, what he produced was made from low-quality tesserae grain. “Tesserae loaves?” Katniss said, surprised by the menu planning. They did need it as a reminder of where they’ve been and where they still were, and what they felt right now was the best way to make that tessera trash taste good. He blew the wood dust off his knife and began to slice the bread with it. It was a little fire, but the bread crisped quickly enough.

In a way, this day had changed everything for them. On the other hand, maybe it simply recognized the way things had been all along.

 

Prim and Rory had gone on to the lake. Katniss had shown it Prim a while ago, and had told Prim that she could only ever choose one special person she trusts to bring here. Of course Prim chose her best friend and hunting partner, Rory.

Rory and Prim didn’t yet know just how close they were, another way in which they took after their older siblings. They had no boundaries, no embarrassment between them. They acted innocent, but they really weren't. They were stronger and braver than they let people know. But people knew that Prim could take down very large animals now. People had become afraid of her. They knew her sister, and they weren't planning on saying anything that could get them injured.

In light of recent weeks, the hunters' relationship grew. Katniss and Gale had realized that the pair might turn out like them. They start as hunting partners and best friends, but end up in love. Right now, it appeared their relationship was indeed heading in that direction.

 

Rory splashed Prim lightly from behind, giving her a scare. She turned quickly, splashing whatever was behind her. She had just soaked Rory without realizing it.

“So you want to play that way, huh?” Rory asked mischievously, wiping the wet hair away from his eyes. He splashed Prim, soaking her completely.

“Oh, you are going down!” she exclaimed, pushing Rory, dunking the boy under the water. Unfortunately, he grabbed her arm and pulled her down too. They came back up, laughing and sputtering water. They walked to the shore side by side, purposely bumping into each other.

 

Yet the horseplay seemed to go too far when Rory tripped and Prim fell on top of him. They both started to laugh. Once the laughing calms down, Prim and Rory stare into one another's eyes when one of them, they don't know who, initiates the kissing, much more furious than the peck on the lips at their big siblings’ wedding earlier in the day.

Rory wraps his arms around her back, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. He slides his tongue across her lip. When Prim eagerly lets that tongue into her mouth, Rory comes out on top and sets the pace, but it’s a game they both win. They mesh together like perfect puzzle pieces. He rolls them over, still kissing.

 

They continue like this for a good 3 minutes, until Rory feels a pair of hands pulling him up. For a moment he freaks out, but then realizes who it is. His older brother. Gale slams him into the tree and looks to see what his wife was doing. They had already had their wedding, only 2 months after being engaged, with Katniss still oblivious to being pregnant. Katniss has just pulled Prim up, rather roughly, and is yelling something her.

Gale turns back to Rory and yells, “What the hell do you think you two were doing?! You're way too young! Kissing like that, that's insane! My wife and I don't even kiss like that!” _Although Gale may well like to, this definitely wasn’t the time to announce it._

“Relax Gale, they'll be fine,” Katniss says gently to him. He sighs and calms down. Katniss takes Gale away towards the trail. “Be back before sunset!” she calls back to them.

 

Rory and Prim look at each other and raise an eyebrow. “That was the oddest thing they have ever done. They yell quickly, and then leave as quickly as they came,” Prim states.

“I know. Doesn't seem odd that the one time we actually do something, they show up,” Rory points out.

“Yeah, about what we did...,” Prim starts, but with her voice trailing off.

“I'm so sorry Prim. It shouldn't have happened...,” he starts, but is cut off by Prim kissing him. She pulls back.

“Apparently _you_ aren't sorry...,” Rory says this time.

“I'm not,” she says, kissing him again. They kiss like they were before, but standing up, their kiss getting deeper.

Rory gets hard. He has before, but not like this. He was making out with the love of his life right now, and this was better. Prim felt him and was surprised. _I did that to Rory?_ she thought happily. Prim wrapped her legs around his waist, wanting to be as close as possible. If Gale was angry before, he would be livid now at what they were doing. Rory had allowed his hands to travel south and they were now cupping Prim's delicate little bottom through her panties. Prim's hands were now tangled in his hair. They were only wearing their undergarments because of swimming, so an observer would’ve thought wrong of it, even if they hadn’t been kissing so passionately.

Prim had started toying with the waistband of his boxers, while Rory reached up to do something similar with her bra clasps. They didn’t really know what they're doing, but they knew enough. They weren't innocent Seam kids anymore; they felt like they were nearly adults. They were almost 15, with his birthday in only a few weeks and hers only a few months after that.

The two continued to have no boundaries. Rory had undone her bra and thrown it to the side, but she didn't really care. Hell, she was trying to get his boxers down, so why not? They knew that they shouldn't do it, but their teenage hormones took over. Before they knew it, every piece of clothing was off of them and Rory was hovering over Prim. They were still kissing but soon stopped. Prim knew that what they were about to do would hurt at first. Rory knew that too, sliding in as slowly as possible, but that didn’t totally avoid the pain. A few tears slid down Prim’s face, but Rory wiped them all away and kept on apologizing. Soon, Prim got used to the feel, and was moaning Rory's name. The way she said it, he could tell that was the only name she would ever say like that, and it was only meant for him to hear. She yelled “harder!” and “faster!”, and she soon found her release, but Rory pulled out before his. He didn't want Prim to get pregnant; he knew it was a possibility. They collapsed into a heap on the ground, panting.

Prim looked to Rory and said, “Did we really just go that far?”

“I think so. Could you imagine that when our siblings were age, that your sister wouldn't even smile at my brother and here we are, same age, having sex,” he said with a laugh.

“Well, my sister is pregnant with your brother's kid, so who are we to judge?” she said before realizing something. “Weird, we just had sex, and we will be sharing a niece or nephew in five and a half months. We are in-laws, and we just went all the way together...”

“Prim, that is so wrong. We really shouldn't think of that. But at least we aren't blood related, that would be worse,” Rory pointed out.

“Whatever you say. Now, let's wash up in the lake, we don't want anyone suspecting anything we did out here today,” Prim said sensibly.

“Okay,” the boy responded. They walked over to the lake and started washing away the dirt, sweat and Rory’s seed. Prim redid her hair, in a high ponytail, nice and neat. They quickly dressed, and headed down the trail towards the fence. They had gotten an abundance of game earlier from the way there. “Prim, after what we just did, what is our...,” he starts, but can't think of the rest of the words soon enough.

Prim grabs his hand. “Relationship status? I'd say boyfriend and girlfriend,” she says, completing his sentence and answering his question with quite an understatement.

“Really?” he asked with mock surprise.

“Well, don't you want to be?” She asked her face dropping.

“Of course! I'm just worried about how people will react to us coming back from the woods in a good mood and holding hands,” Rory said.

“Good point. Why don't we keep it a secret? Except from Katniss and Gale, it's obvious that they already know,” Rory suggested.

 

 “Hey Katniss,” Prim says too innocently at the person standing behind them. “Where's Gale?”

“He's hiding from me in the Hob,” Katniss responds.

“Why?” Prim said with genuine surprise.

“I'm pregnant,” Katniss said, finally admitting it. “Now, to get to the point, after I yelled at Gale, I came out here and heard what you two idiots did at the lake.”


	6. Secrets Don't Stay Hidden Long

Gale ran into the Hob, hoping that Katniss hadn't followed him. He walks over to Greasy Sae's stall, still panting. Gale looked back still hoping that his wife hadn't followed him. After two two had gotten home from yelling at Rory and Prim, which was a bizarre occurrence for them to see their younger siblings kissing, Katniss's mother had come out and pulled Katniss away for about ten minutes. The next thing he knows, Katniss is pushing him against the wall yelling at him and crying. She was said that it was all his fault. She slapped him hard, which left the current red mark on his cheek. He managed to escape from her and ran off towards the Hob. Her mother had told him that if she yells and hits leave until she calms down. So he ran off to the Hob. When Sae saw him she seemed confused.

“Where's your wife?” she asked, in hopes of sorting this out.

“Hopefully not chasing me,” he said, still trying to catch his breath.

“She pregnant?” Sae guessed.

“How'd you know?” Gale said with mock shock.

“Her father came running in here for the same reason 18 years ago,” Sae explained.

“I guess yelling at the father is a tradition in her family,” Gale observed.

“It is in most families. Just ask you mother. Your father did the same nearly 20 years ago,” the old woman said, reciting wisdom.

 

About six years after that, what happened to be shortly after the 61st Games, Jacob Everdeen made another panicked  visit to his black-market refuge. Thomas Hawthorne knew the signs, having repeated that ritual with his beloved Hazelle a few months prior. “Your fathers talked for hours,” Greasy Sae explained. “They had a lot in common. A child on the way, hunting illegally, and working in the mines. They became friends after that. I even heard their plans to introduce you to Katniss a few weeks before the, well you know, the explosion.” _Sae was one of those who knew damn well it was no accident, having been rigged to take out those two troublemakers, the Capitol not worrying about how many more people it slaughtered in the process._ “You met anyway, a few months after. Never saw friends as close as you two. Your fathers would be proud, starting a family together,” she chattered on. Gale was still in shock. Their fathers had been friends. So no matter how it would've been, fathers or no fathers, they probably would’ve end up married and starting a family.

 

“Thanks Sae. Could I get some soup please?” Gale said, saying something simple because he was still taking it in.

“Sure thing,” she said pouring him some soup. He ate and relaxed, smiling to himself because he was going to be a father, hopefully one as good as his own had been.

 

Meanwhile, in the woods, Prim and Rory were freaking out over what Katniss had said.

“What...how... don't tell Gale...,” Rory had stuttered.

“I won't. I actually think it's cute. But be careful, I don't want a niece or nephew for at least another two years. And do it when Gale and I aren't in the woods. I'll tell when we aren't planning to come out here or at least to the lake. Try and be quiet, you don't want to scare off game or attract danger. Go into the house next time, you'll be safer. And cover up your tracks,” she explained. Prim and Rory stood there wide-eyed and shocked at how well Katniss was handling it.

“Uhhh... Katniss we weren't exactly planning on doing it more...,” Prim says.

“We weren't?” Rory asks innocently. Prim elbows him in the ribs.

“No we weren't. Now shut up,” Prim says. Rory rubs his ribs and heads towards the fence. “Where do you think you're going? We still have to split the game,” Prim pointed out.

“Whatever,” Rory muttered, his teenage hormones rather disappointed.

“Rory, you need to calm down. I will tell your brother what happened. I actually should as an apology for slapping him. Bye,” Katniss says, running off towards the fence. Neither of them knows what she said, so they brush it off. They split the game evenly when they reach the fence 45 minutes later. Rory kisses Prim goodbye when they split to go home.

 

When he gets home, Hazelle is sitting at the table with Gale. Rory realizes that is about 8 o'clock. “Sorry I'm late I was..,” Rory starts to explain to them, but Gale cuts him off.

“Katniss told me what happened at the lake,” Gale states. Rory's face flushed and he drops the game bag.

“Yeah, about Katniss, I guess a congratulations is in order,” he says, trying to lighten the mood.

“Thanks, but that's not what we are talking about,” His brother growled.

“Look, we didn't mean for it to happen, it was an...” Rory starts, but is interrupted by Gale slamming him into the wall.

“Gale! Be careful with him!” Hazelle exclaims.

“He deserves it!” Gale yells. He back to Rory and yells, "Rory, you're a _fucking_ idiot!”

“But!” Rory countered.

“There are no buts about this! You're only 14! If she gets pregnant Rory, I swear, I will...,” Gale said, firmly ensconced in his familiar ranting mode.

“Gale! Enough!” their mother chastises.

 

 Katniss, who had just been let in by Hazelle, says. “They made a mistake! They are old enough to take care of themselves, we were at their age. We were doing basically whatever we wanted by the same point in our lives.”

“But we weren't having sex!” Gale points out.

“You want to rethink that, 'king of the slag heap?'” she asked, causing her husband to blush.

“Those girls meant nothing! I only ever loved you!” Gale explains. “And I was only kissing them!”

“As furiously as you bawled out Rory for doing?” Katniss points out.

“I was a hormone charged teenage boy then!” Gale insists.

“And Rory isn't?” Katniss said, again deflating her husband with the right of the matter.

“Well I suppose he is, but it was your sister!” Gale says defensively.

“I would've killed him by now if I was angry,” Katniss explains.

“Where's one of your mood swings when I need it?” Gale muttered.

“That's how you end up sleeping on the couch,” Katniss said, turning away and marching out the door.

“I'm sorry, Catnip! I love you!” Gale yelled after his wife and followed her.

 

Rory had been left alone with his mother.

“Is that what married life is like?” Rory asked, looking to his mother.

“Yes it is, well when you really love each other,” she responds. “Now about Prim... what exactly happened?”

“We had started splashing each other at first in the lake. We started kissing, well, making out. We had been basically ambushed by Gale, who was taken away by Katniss. We had started kissing again, even deeper than before. After that, we caught up. We did it Mom, and I'm so mad at myself.”

“It's okay Rory. Was she mad? And did you, well, pull out before, you know, released?” Hazelle asks, a bit embarrassed that she had to ask this”

“No, she wasn't upset. She was actually a bit happy. And I did pull out...” Rory says, defending himself quite accurately.

“That's good, Rory,” Hazelle said, relieved. “Now, what's this I hear about Gale being the so called 'King of the Slag Heap?' I know about the slag heap, but I didn't know he had ties to it.” she wondered.

“He would go there at lunch twice a week and every day during free period,” Rory began.

“Ok, I would see why Katniss would be upset, especially considering how much she loves him, at least by now. I swear, those two are like an old married couple. Now do you want dinner? You should be hungry after the day's _activities_.”

“Nice, mom, nice,” Rory says sarcastically.

The next day at school, everyone had heard what happened with Prim and Rory, thanks to Gale's yelling. Prim and Rory walked to school holding hands. When they reached their friends, they were cornered.

“Is it true?!” Holly, their friend, exclaimed. Prim and Rory both quirked an eyebrow at the hyperactive girl.

“She means ‘did you have sex?’. Some neighbors heard Gale yelling last night. Whoever they were, they told some blabbermouth and she told the whole school,” another friend, Juzer, explained. He said to Holly, “Back off them.”

Prim looked to Rory, hoping he would answer, which he did. “Yes, we did. Now that we are clear, can we talk about something else other than my and Prim's intimacy?”

“Fine, whatever. When are you getting married?” Juzer asks with a smirk on his face.

“When are you going to shut up?” Prim asks, with a fake smile on her face.

 

“Ooo, Primy got some sass. Girl gonna be a bitchy whore like her sister,” some passing 17 year old girl says.

“What the fuck did you say about my sister?” Prim growls after her. The girl turns around.

“I said that she was a bitchy whore. The only reason that Hawthorne stayed with her is because he knocked her up,” the seventeen year old said, digging herself in deeper. Juzer and Holly made the mistake of holding Rory back instead of Prim. Prim dropped the books she was holding and knocked the girl down. Prim threw punches left and right. The girl tried fighting back, but only got a few good punches in. The fight had attracted a crowd, who were watching in awe. They never thought that the kindest girl in school would be in a fight, let alone winning one. Even a few teachers hadn't stopped the fight yet because they were still in awe. It had been Rory to pull Prim away. He had gotten an elbow to the nose, causing it to bleed.

Rory had just pulled Prim off when Juzer yelled, “Nothing to see here! Get a move on!” The teachers snapped out of it and had helped the girl up. Rory had to restrain Prim from going animal on her again.

“Prim, you need to calm down,” Rory whispered into her ear. She stopped struggling against him and sighed.

“Sorry, Rory,” she muttered.

 

The dean had just arrived to see what happened. She was a kind woman in her mid-50's. When she saw who was in the fight she frowned. She pointed to Rory and said, “Go get her sister.” Rory nodded and left Prim with a teacher.

As soon as he was out of the school, he sprinted to Katniss and Gale’s house. Still panting, he knocked on their door and heard someone moving inside. Gale answered the door. When he saw Rory, a frowned formed on his face. “What the hell are you doing here, Rory? You need to be in school.”

Still panting he answered, “The dean sent me to get Katniss. Prim was in a fight.”

“Prim? Why did the dean want Katniss?” Gale asked, his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

“I don't know,” Rory admitted. “She just sent me. Can you get her? I've probably already missed math and half of gym,” Rory says, getting annoyed.

Gale glares at him and says, “Fine. I'll be back in a second. If you get slapped for bugging her, don't blame me.” Gale turns and goes inside. Rory hears Gale speaking to Katniss. “The dean sent Rory. Apparently Prim was in a fight,” Gale says.

“What? First off, why is she sending my brother-in-law, and second, why was Prim in a fight?” Katniss snaps.

“I guess you'll have to find out. Rory was sent for you,” Gale said with resignation.

“Darnit, get the crazy pregnant lady, that's a great idea when she has this many mood swings,” Rory hears her mutter. Katniss comes out of the house pretty quickly.

She looks at Rory and says, “Our little Prim gets tougher by the day,” frankly somewhat proud of her little duck. Katniss then puts her hands to her stomach automatically, then starts walking. Perhaps ‘waddling’ would be more appropriate, she pretty big for only a couple months along. Nevertheless, she was pretty fast for her size. She isn't that angry, which surprises Rory. He catches up to her and all of the sudden she stops.

“Are you okay, Katniss?” Rory asks with serious concern.

“Yeah... It's nothing, lets hurry,” Katniss says, starting to walk faster than before. 

Luckily the school isn't far away. They reach it in ten minutes and Rory escorts her to the office. When they get inside, they see that Prim is still being restrained by a teacher who has a bloody nose. When Katniss sees the other girl who seems to be taunting Prim, her jaw drops. The girl has a swollen cheek, the beginning of a black eye, and what looks to be a broken nose, which is pouring out blood. Katniss then looks to Prim, who has nothing but a bruised, swollen cheek. The door slams behind Rory and Katniss, causing the three people in the room to look at them. Rory runs over to Prim, to take the place the teacher was in. The teacher let's Rory take his place, and strides over to Katniss.

“This wouldn't be Katniss Everdeen, now would it?” He says. Katniss recognizes the man who looks to be in his 30's. He had been her math teacher when she was 16. His name was Mr. Holden, and had been her favorite teacher.

“Yes it would be. But its Katniss Hawthorne now,” she replies with a polite smile. She hears the injured girl snort, causing Prim to struggle against Rory. “Now what happened between my sister and the girl with the messed up face?” Katniss asked as politely as she could.

“Ah... well I think I should let them tell you because I'm getting rather light headed from the blood coming out of my nose. I shall see you later,” Mr. Holden answered.

“Goodbye, Mr. Holden it was nice seeing you,” Katniss said.

“Farewell,” he agreed.

 

Katniss turned to the group of teenagers before her. “Rory will explain what happened.”

“Umm... Okay, well that girl there said that Prim would turn into a bitchy whore like you. She also said the only reason Gale married you because he knocked you up...,” Rory explained, rather afraid of how Katniss would react.

Many different things came across her face, but ended with anger. Prim and Rory looked to each other and ran over to Katniss who had looked as if she was about to kill the girl. They were using all their combined strength to hold her back, but it barely worked. It just so happened that Gale would come that moment. He looked at the scene before him and confusion clouded his mind. Instead of trying to sort it out he took the 14 year olds’ spot and held her back easily. The girl laughed, causing Prim to go back to try and injure her more. Luckily Rory had gotten a hold of Prim just in time before she could. Both Everdeen girls were struggling against the Hawthorne boys when the dean came out and took in the scene before her.

“Enough!” she shrilled, causing everyone to become stop moving. “I've had enough of Miss Sanding's behavior. You have gotten into three fights before this and I'm quite sick of it. It's time someone taught you a lesson. And Ms. Everdeen, your sister is not to come back for three days. Mr. Hawthorne, your brother seemed to be a part of this as well, he cannot come back for three days as well."

“Okay, Ms. Jeritza. I'll tell Rory's mother. I'm Mrs. Hawthorne now by the way,” Katniss responded.

“Thank you, _Mrs. Hawthorne_. You can go to class now, Miss Sanding.” The girl stood up and awkwardly left the room. “She got her lesson,” the dean continued. “Being injured like that is punishment enough. I think you deserve time off school, you two. Why don't you two go off and hunt. I'd like to catch up with your siblings here,” she instructs. The two 14 year olds leave in shock.


	7. Thump Thmp

“Well I'll be darned. Married Gale? And by the looks of it, you have a child on the way? How far along, three or four months?” the dean asked with a kind smile.

“Actually, only about two,” Katniss said.

 

“When did you two marry?” she asked after Prim and Rory left.

“A couple months ago. As you can see we have a child on the way. Already _that far_ along,” Katniss replies. “But we got engaged before we even knew about the future Hawthorne, _thankyouverymuch_ ,” she adds.

“Do you mind if the school nurse examines you in a few weeks’ time? I think it would be good experience for her,” she says. Katniss looks to Gale and he nods.

“Only if Gale comes with,” Katniss says of her husband.

“Of course, dear,” the dean agrees.

The pair realize they have to go speak to Hazelle about Rory not going to school.

 

When they come back together later in the fall, the dean remembers exactly what for. “Come with me, you two,” she says, waving them down the hall.

Katniss whispers to Gale, “This is suspicious...”

“Relax, you'll be okay. Trust me. I'll be there,” he whispers back.

“In here!” The dean calls to them, pointing into the room.

 

They go in and the nurse has a weird machine set up by one of the beds. “Hello! I'm Ms. Gandy,” the nurse announces. “This type of machine was used in the old world to look at a baby that wasn't born yet. We just got this from the Capitol last month, and we haven't used it yet. You can even hear the baby's heart beating!” she exclaimed, overly perky, perhaps excited about her new toy. Gale and Katniss just looked at each other. “Mrs. Hawthorne you just need to lie down here and I have to spread cold gel on your stomach to see your baby,” the nurse instructs. Katniss nods uncertainly. "It's okay Mrs. Hawthorne. It doesn't hurt! You can find if it's a boy or girl!” she exclaims.

Katniss lies down and pulls her shirt up like instructed. Gale sits next to her and holds her hand. He is personally excited about this, finding out if his child is a boy or girl. The nurse spreads the gel on Katniss's stomach. She then turns on the machine and uses a wand-like thing to move around on her stomach. She then finds a place on the stomach that seems to be okay because she stops moving the wand.

“Do you hear that?” she whispers. They listen and hear two quick _thump- thumps,_ which causes Katniss to cry and even Gale to tear up. “That sounds strange. It's only supposed to be one beat,” she points out, looking puzzled as she continues to move the wand around. “By the looks of it, you're having a boy _and_ a girl!” she squeals, causing Katniss's eyes to bulge out of her head and Gale to nearly faint. She wouldn’t be the first fellow woman to be excited about Katniss’ pregnancy, but the first besides the future mother’s mother to tell them anything significant about it.

Katniss and Gale walked slowly from the school still in a daze. They had to go tell Katniss's mother because she was the one to help them through the birth. They also had decided to go to the Hob to straighten out any rumors. They walked hand in hand to the back of the Seam where Katniss's old house was.

“Gale, I will barely be able to handle one child. How am I going to do this?” Katniss asked, pretty close to tears.

“We're in this together. I'll take the girl to keep boys away from her and you can take the boy and make sure he stays away from the Slag Heap,” he responded, with an attempt at humor. “You will be an amazing mother to them. You handled Prim pretty well, except for when it comes to keeping away boys. Stupid Rory can't keep away from that girl,” Gale continues, at least a little more seriously.

“I always knew that I couldn't keep boys away from her. At least it's Rory. He's better than a lot of boys Prim could've chosen. She could've ended up with that creep she calls a friend, Juzer. You will probably scare all the boys away from our girl. I'll take him into the woods, and he'll be a genius with snares, just like his father,” she responded, almost dreamily.

“And she'll have the best aim with an arrow. Even better then you and Prim. She will look just like you, except with my eyes. And our boy will have your eyes,” Gale says, continuing the excitement.

“We have the same eyes, stupid,” Katniss points out, although lightheartedly.

“Yours have a twinge of blue from your mother. Mine are a darker grey,” Gale explains.

“Since when do you keep track of my eyes?” Katniss laughed.

“Since I first met you. Your eyes almost always reflect your mood. See, your eyes say you are a bit worried right now. You need to stop worrying, it's not good for the baby. Err... babies,” he said, correcting himself. “Twins. Who knew?” he mused.

“No wonder I'm so big only being this far along,” Katniss said just as they reached the house, glad to finally have an explanation for that.

 

She knocked on the door. Mrs. Everdeen opened it and seemed surprised to see them, but she still smiled happily. “Hi, Katniss, Gale, my grandchild,” she said, patting Katniss's stomach.

“Hi Mom. We actually came to talk to you about your grandchild. We found out the gender,” Katniss says, smiling at her mother.

“You did! Oh, what is my grandchild going to be!?” she exclaimed, leading the couple inside to sit down.

Katniss looked to Gale, he smiled, and answered for her. “Not grandchild. Grandchildren. One of each.”

Mrs. Everdeen, who had been getting a glass of water, had dropped the glass and gasped. “Twins? How, oh my goodness! This is going to be a shorter pregnancy than it would be if you were having one. At most it will be 8 months. Your delivery will be harsh. It will take quite a bit of time considering it's only your first time and it is twins,” talking like the midwife. “Now we have to come up with names! Oh dear! Well the boy will obviously be both of your fathers' names. Jacob Thomas Hawthorne sounds lovely. Or Thomas Jacob if you agree on that. Oh, I'm butting in far too much. These are your children,” She babbled on and on, now talking like the grandmother.

“We didn’t think about names just yet, Mom. But Jacob Thomas does sound nice. I wonder for female names though,” Katniss replies, getting excited.

“Oh Katniss, you have no idea how many names I have in my head. Why don't you go along and tell Hazelle the news, Gale? Save some time. You two are welcome to stay for dinner. Actually Gale, dear, invite your mother and siblings over. You can tell them the news all once to save time and energy. You'll need for when the twins come,” Ingrid Everdeen suggests.

 

Gale sighs and agrees, lumbering out of the house. He hears Prim, bawling at Rory. “We can't be together Rory! It's too complicated! We have been friends for too long to risk it! It's already weird as it is, after what we did at the lake. We just need to avoid each other. I really like you Rory, but it just seems it will end badly for us. Something bad happens to everyone I love. Did you know what Katniss is dealing with? My mother said that she might be too small to carry the baby. Katniss might perish giving birth. She might to have a surgery to get the baby out healthy. Even then she could catch an infection while recovering. My mother, she's suffering from something called depression. At times, she's unreachable. If I love you and something bad happens to you, it'll kill me, Rory.”

 

Gale's heart nearly broke when he hears about Katniss. He sprints back to the Everdeen house to get her. He bursts inside and grabs Katniss's hand. “Katniss, I think we should go home right now. I need to speak to you about something,” he says, giving Mrs. Everdeen a knowing look. Katniss doesn't have much time to respond, she is already being pulled away. Their home isn't far away, just about 20 houses down. They reach it quickly, considering Gale was nearly running.

“What is this all about, Gale?” She asks fairly calm when they are inside.

“Why didn't you tell me about the complications with your pregnancy? Why didn't you tell me that you could _die_ from giving birth?” he asks his wife, despair in his voice.

“I couldn't tell you. I thought it would be easier if you didn't know ahead of time,” she replies while looking down.

“I'd rather have you and no children then no you and children. I heard Prim talking to Rory about it. I think you should have that surgery as soon as they are healthy enough to meet us. I love you Katniss, never forget that,” Gale says in a determined voice.

“I love you too,” Katniss says just as surely.

 

“I think Prim just broke Rory's heart,” Gale admits.

“Heartbreaker at 14? Hmm... Surprised it wasn't Rory who did it,” Katniss says.

“If he hurt my darling wife’s darling sister, I would've killed him by now,” Gale responds, with a grin. They heard a hard knock at the door and Gale got up to answer it. There was a red faced Rory, who looked as angry as Gale could be. “Holy shitm Rory! What the fuck happened?!” Gale exclaimed.

“This is all your fucking fault! You told her to break up with me, you shithead!” Rory yelled, pointing at Gale.

“I didn't do anything! I wouldn't do that to you, little dumb shit! I know how the fuck you feel for her!” He yelled at him. He was getting red faced now.

“That's not true! You were to make me unhappy as fuck!” he said, pushing Gale back. This caught him off guard, causing him to stumble back.

“You little shit,” He mumbled as he caught his balance and glaring at Rory. Gale punches his brother in the jaw, but it didn't seem to faze Rory. Rory punches Gale in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.

“ENOUGH! Now boys, you can go outside and settle this like dogs or Rory can just leave and I can have peace. I will not tolerate any bad language in this household, especially while I'm pregnant. I don't want them hearing any foulmouthed language when they aren't even born yet. They are having a field day right now; they are using my stomach as a kickball. Now will you shut up! I want some peace!” Katniss yells, who had gotten sick of their fighting. “By the way Rory, Gale would never do anything like that, even if he is upset with you. He waited 6 years to tell me that he loved me, and I am pretty sure that he wouldn't want you to wait as long as he did. Now out before I get your mother.”

“Sorry Katniss. I'll see you later,” Rory mumbles guiltily. He sulks out of the house leaving Katniss and Gale. Rory and Gale both admitted to themselves that it had been a rather senseless fight, but right now neither of them wanted to enrage Katniss further by pointing that out.

“Remind me never to make you angry while you're pregnant,” Gale says.

“Good luck with that. Now come on, I have to clean up your face if we're going to the Hob. I don't want anyone thinking I did that to you,” Katniss says with a bit of a grin on her face.

 

“It’s twins, one of each,” Katniss screamed happily as the two of them walked into the _repurposed_ old coal warehouse together.

“So that’s why you got so big so fast,” Greasy Sae observed. “Apparently our favorite man and woman are having a little guy and gal of their own, congratulations!” she continued, safely speaking for the whole crowd.


	8. Family

The next four months passed in perfect harmony. With Rory’s 15th birthday, Posy’s 7th, and looking forward to two new lives in the new year, the Hawthornes and Everdeens were happily able to overlook the seventh anniversary of the infamous mine explosion. Gale could barely believe his 21st birthday came and went with the greatest gift in the world only a few weeks away.

 

Katniss was now 8 months along, and could barely walk. Her mother said that she give birth any day now. Rory and Prim were still in the awkward friend phase, but they were getting close to how it was before. They still hunted together because with Katniss so big, they had to. The fact that they hadn't been together any more was a shock to everyone. No one spoke of it though; they were worried that Prim would hurt them like she did to Miss Sanding.

 

One day in early April, Katniss was at home, trying to organize the twins’ room. They had one of the bigger Seam homes; it was from the times when the families were bigger. _They had been built before the Games had scared so many people out of having kids. And not replaced since then_ , Gale angrily thought to himself. Thomas and Hazelle’s four kids had been quite an exception. _And who knows if I would’ve had even more siblings had my father lived?_ Gale wondered. _They had not been so old, although life in the Seam makes us all seem old._

The new Hawthorne couple’s shack had a surprising 3 bedrooms. They believed that since they had been helping feed the district that they were provided with a larger home. Mayor Undersee was sympathetic, after all, and this wasn’t the first time he showed it by more than just buying strawberries. His wife had been a wreck ever since her beloved twin sister had died in the Games; that’s probably where he got it from.

Gale was at the Hob, trying to find a present for Katniss and trying to trade some food that Prim and Rory brought in. Katniss had been so frustrated this month of her pregnancy. Gale felt guilty, and Katniss kept on making him sleep on the couch, let alone ‘sleep with’ her. She loved him, but she didn't want him to deal with her constant moving around to find the right position. Gale laughed and said it was okay, and he let her take control.

He was walking around the Hob with strawberries to sell. Prim had gathered too many, enough to last several weeks. But strawberries were disgusting in Katniss's eyes right now. She nearly threw up when Prim brought them over. But Katniss was having a very difficult pregnancy so Gale was going to abide by every whim and rule for her. He had no luck trying to sell them; Prim and Rory had already gotten to everyone who would buy them. He was about to give up when Madge Undersee, the mayor's daughter ran up to him. “Gale! Are you willing to sell those strawberries?” she asked, skidding to a halt in front of him. “My father has had a craving and he is willing to pay any amount right now.”

“Uhhh... Yeah, Katniss nearly barfed at the sight of them. She forbids them in the house currently,” Gale said.

“Okay! How's her pregnancy? Girl and boy, right? Oh, I'm talking too much. Oh dear, I don't have any coins with me! Sorry, Gale! Here, will this do?” She asked, thrusting out a little gold pin. Madge sees Gale's suspicious eyes examining it. “It's a Mockingjay. It's a bit much.” _Way too much, the Seam man thought, even though the Town woman was trying to be understanding._ “But you should think of it as a gift for the pregnancy and the wedding,” the mayor’s daughter finished. _Uhh, okay._

“Thanks, Madge. She's doing well by the way. She could give birth any day now.”

“Lovely! Tell me when she does! Bye Gale!” she exclaims after trading. She runs off with the strawberries, leaving Gale a bit shocked and confused; he knew Madge was normally quiet. He shrugs it off and walks home. He was happy because his life was just about complete. He was married to his soulmate, two children on the way, and no one he loved had to go through the horrors of the Hunger Games - yet. He held the pin tightly; he was excited because he knew she loved mockingjays. They stopped when she sang with her beautiful voice. She didn't know that he had heard her, but he knows that she sings every night to her stomach. She always is smiling; he knew she had indeed warmed up to the idea of being a mother.

 

“Katniss, I'm home!” He yelled out to his wife just as he reached their large yet old shack. He smiled to himself because he felt like this was like an old routine that they've been doing for years. He would come home, she would kiss him on the cheek, and they would eat dinner. He didn't go to work in the mines, he hunted and traded instead. Katniss still hadn't come to greet him yet, so he called for her again, “Sweetheart, where are you?”

“GALE!” She screeched from another room. His heart dropped and he ran to her voice. He found her in the twin's room, clutching her stomach on the floor. “Gale!” She screamed again. He got down onto his knees and wrapped his arms around her.

“What's going on?! Are you okay?!” Gale questioned; his heart was racing at well over a hundred beats per minute.

She looked up to him, a small smile on her face and tears in her eyes, and said, “I think our children want to meet us _now_.” His jaw dropped. He didn't really know what to do. He helped Hazelle give birth to Posy, but this was different. These were _his_ children coming. “Oh Gale, just help me to my mother and sister’s house. And by help, I mean carry me. Hurry, I've been like this since you left,” she instructed. He was twice as shocked. She had been like this for 6 hours. “ _Hurry_ , Gale!” she exclaimed.

He picked her up like a rag doll and walked as careful and fast as he could to the Everdeen shack she had been born and raised in. He didn't even knock on the door; he needed to get inside quickly. He opened the door to find Mrs. Everdeen drinking something that looked like tea. She gasped when she looked at them.

“What's going on?!” She exclaimed.

“The twins are coming,” Katniss sputtered out.

“Set her on the couch! Go find Prim; I'll need her to help. She’s probably still hunting. Send Rory for your mother. Hurry! She's getting close,” Mrs. Everdeen instructs. He sets her down on the couch and gently kisses her.

“I'll be back soon, Catnip. Looks like we'll be parents by the end of the day,” He whispered. _Katniss only hoped that her agony would be over well before midnight._ He sprinted to the fence, and ducked under it without even stopping to here if it was on. “Prim!” He roared. He kept on looking for them for 10 minutes until he found Prim with the bow pointed at Rory. “PRIM! You can kill him later! But Katniss is about to give birth and you're needed. Rory! You need to get Mom to come over.”

“What?” Was the whimsical word to come out of Rory's mouth.

“Damnit! Prim, run home. I'll deal with this idiot here,” Gale snapped. Prim nodded and sprinted towards the district. “Rory, my wife is about to give birth and I need you to get our mother to help. Understand?” Rory nods. “Now why was she aiming the bow at you?”

“I asked something I shouldn't have,” Rory admitted sheepishly.

“What was that?” Gale wondered.

“I asked if she still liked me. I don't know why it set her off. I was really kind with wording it. I'll go get Mom now,” Rory said right before sprinting off.

“Only you, Rory,” Gale muttered under his breath. He too sprinted off, just barely catching up with Prim. They walked inside to find an angry Katniss. She was yelling something at her mom that was not understood.

“There you are, you bastard!” Katniss yelled, throwing a glass at Gale, which he barely dodged. “We are never ever having sex again, you Mother Fu...!” she started, but cut herself off with a scream. It was clear that she was in pain... and angry at Gale.

“Katniss, calm down honey, it's not good for the babies,” Prim told her, quite calmly for the situation. “Go hold her hand, Gale,” She whispered into his ear. He did as he was told. He held her hand and winced. She was squeezing his hand hard- very hard. The rest of the Hawthornes all came in when she was having a contraction, which meant very colorful words were coming out of her mouth. Vick covered Posy's ears and Rory started laughing. Hazelle hit him in the back of the head, but not before Prim snapped at him. “Idiot! Stop laughing! I'll kill you right after she kills your brother!” Katniss hissed at him.

“Vick and, you should take Posy outside. We can deal with things in here,” Hazelle said in a relatively successful attempt to try and defuse the situation. They went outside, leaving the area less crowded. Hazelle walked over to Katniss who was calmer now. “Hi Honey, how are doing with this?” she asked, wiping the hair from her face.

“I want to kill your son,” she said calmly.

“You Everdeen girls sure like to kill Hawthorne boys,” Gale said. Katniss glared at him. “Sorry sweetie.”

“You know we are never having sex again?” Katniss asked of her husband.

“Yes, honey. You said that when I came in and you threw a glass of water at me,” Gale recounted flatly

“You deserved...,” she started but interrupted herself again by screaming.

“Oh dear. Katniss, I think you can start to push now. Your contractions are really close together,” Ingrid said. “Oh my goodness! Katniss, you need to push now!” she continued. “Katniss, hold your breath and push. 1... 2... 3...”

Then there was loud screaming, not like any other. Katniss nearly broke Gale's hand. But it was over. Katniss had her babies, her beautiful girl and boy. Sage Gwendolyn Hawthorne and then Jacob Thomas Hawthorne came into the world loud, like their mother had been bringing them in. After grandmother and aunt cleaned off the newborns somewhat, Katniss held Jacob while Gale held Sage. “You know when I said that we would never have sex again?” Katniss asked sleepily.

“Yes?” he responded, still in a baby voice from cooing at Sage.

Jacob fell asleep in her arms. “I changed my mind. I could do this again,” She sighed.

The two grandmothers heard the new parents and chuckled. “Oh, those two will have a large family,” Mrs. Everdeen sighed.

“Not as large as _those_ two,” Hazelle responded, nodding towards the window. They looked outside to see Prim and Rory playing with Posy and laughing.


	9. Perfect Bliss

Katniss had felt the joy of motherhood as soon as her babies were born, and it only grew as they did. The twins were two months old now. Katniss hadn’t been back to hunting just yet, she wanted to take care of her children. They were growing fast; they were well-fed babies because of the fresh game. _And because of their mother’s beautiful breasts_ , their father added.

 

Prim obsessed over Sage, who had what Mrs. Everdeen described as a mini-Katniss look. Of course, Jacob was a spitting image of his father. The first time they went to the Hob with them, everyone went up to them and congratulated them. Greasy Sae loved them; she would always coo at them. Darius loved Jacob; he had even given the twins little clothing.

 

“Katniss! How are you doing?” Madge had asked one day while Katniss was at the Hob without Gale.

“I’m doing fine, Madge. How are you? Oh, have you met the twins yet? This is Sage and Jacob. They're two months now,” Katniss responded, obviously being a proud parent. She had been managing to carry both twins through the Hob. She wanted them to visit all their fans today.

“Oh, I’m amazing, Katniss. I really want to talk to you. I need some advice. Oh, can I hold Sage? Do you have time to talk? Preferably somewhere private?” she questioned quietly.

“Oh, of course, Madge. Here’s Sage,” letting her friend hold her daughter. “Where do you want to go? My house? That way they can nap and we can have some time to talk. Gale’s in the woods, so no worries about that.”

“Yes please,” Madge agreed.

“Come on,” Katniss responded. They walked to the house and Madge helped put them to sleep. “Sit down Madge. Do you want anything to eat or drink?”

“No thanks, Katniss. I just really need advice,” Madge explained.

“What is it?” Katniss asked.

“How did you tell Gale you were pregnant?” Madge asked, looking down to her hands.

“I tried to kill him. Why?” Katniss responded, sitting down next to Madge.

“Do you know Pumpernickel Mellark?” Madge asked.

“The baker’s second oldest son? Yeah, he was in the same year as Gale was,” Katniss agreed.

“I'm pregnant with his child,” Madge admitted, which is what Katniss figured her friend was getting at.

“Oh my goodness, Madge! Wait, you like other women, don’t you, so how’d this happen?” Katniss asked, still somewhat stunned.

“That didn’t keep me from wanting my own little ones, and babies still have to come from somewhere, so I tolerated a man just this one,” Madge explained.

            “Ha, I want Gale in me some more now that his babies have come out,” Katniss admitted.

“Pump still enjoyed pumping into me, though I closed my eyes and imagined I was playing with myself. I’m worried though, what will people think of me? I’m the mayor's daughter; I can't have anyone think badly of me,” Madge said, also in a confessing mood.

“Oh, Madge, I’d think no one would dare think badly of you. Your father is the best mayor we have ever had,” Katniss said encouragingly.

“You’re right, Katniss. I just can’t believe that there is a child growing inside of me,” Madge said.

“Try having two Hawthorne kids. They kick like they are playing ball,” Katniss replied.

“Oh, I bet Mellark babies kick harder,” Madge countered.

“Let me know,” Katniss said lightheartedly.

“My girlfriend Anna thinks them big strong Mellark boys would make absolutely adorable babies, and she seems so motherly with her niece Lily,” Madge said gleefully. “Oh, I never told you about her?” the mayor’s daughter admitted. “She’s another Seam girl, nearly as pretty as you are, and is still a sweetheart even after how much she’s lost,” the lovestruck lesbian continued.

“I oughta meet her. I can be too bitter even though I have darn good reasons,” Katniss agreed.

“Being around Gale will do that to you,” Madge laughed. “Anyway, Anna and I should be getting married after her last reaping this year.”

“May the odds be ever in your favor,” Katniss concluded.

 

“Wait, I have something that Pumpernickel wanted me to tell you,” Madge said after she had started to walk away.

“What is it?” Katniss wondered.

“Peeta, his brother, loves you,” Madge explained.

“What?! But I'm married and a mother!” Katniss pointed out, shocked.

“He's loved you since we were five,” Madge continued. _Since we started school, us being in the same year and all_ , Katniss figured.

“Why hasn't he ever said anything to me? It's too late now,” Katniss responded, still floored by the news.

“Pumpernickel said his brother was going to tell after the reaping last year,” Madge said. _But apparently Gale had the same plans, he said it first, and it was slightly less shocking coming from my deep friend_ , Katniss observed to herself. “Then Peeta saw you kissing Gale in the meadow. Pumpernickel said he’s heartbroken. He is. I saw him last week. He doesn’t talk to anyone besides his father. You know Mr. Mellark was in love with your mother? Then she met your father. She ran off with him. Peeta does ask me how you are doing though. When I told him you were pregnant he accidentally dropped the flour sack he was carrying. The flour went everywhere, but he walked away. He even yelled at Mr. Mellark. Pumpernickel is so concerned since his baby brother barely ever talks.”

“Oh my goodness. I had no idea. Oh Madge, this is not good. I don’t know what to say. I'm in love with Gale. He’s too late. Maybe in another universe, another time and place. But not here, I love my family more than the anything, and nothing will ever change that,” Katniss said.

“I thought so,” Madge agreed.

“You know Gale is listening to us talk. I heard his footsteps. He’s at the door,” Katniss whispered to Madge. “Come in, Gale. I know you are there,” she said.

He walks in with a guilty smile on his face. “Hey Catnip, Madge.”

“I'll be going now. I need to tell Pumpernickel that climbing on top of him worked the first time. Thank you, Katniss, it was nice speaking to you. I’ll see you soon,” Madge says as she leaves.

“Okay Madge. We'll have to do this again when my nosy ass husband isn't here,” Katniss says, glaring at Gale.

“Of course. Bye Katniss,” she says, and then leaves. Katniss turns to Gale.

“How much did you hear?” Katniss said accusingly.

“Enough to know that you aren't leaving our family,” Gale said cheerfully.

“Dumbass, I would never leave you. You are my life; without us together in the woods, we might not even be alive. We helped each other’s families through the worst of times. I love you and our children more than anything in the world besides my sister. I have as perfect a life as we can have in the Seam; I don't need anything to complete it. Well, except maybe another child one day,” she gushes.

“You are seriously considering having another child?” Gale says, amazed after how much trouble she had with carrying and birthing the first two.

“One day, and of course I am, Gale. I love being a mother and watching you as a father. It's one of the best things I've ever experienced. But I wouldn't do it with anyone but you, Mr. Hawthorne.”

“Damn, I love you, Mrs. Hawthorne,” he says, pulling her into a kiss. The kiss doesn't last long, because the twins start to cry.

She pulls back and says, “That's our cue.” They go the twins’ room and they each pick them up. “You have Sage, right?” Katniss asks her husband who is already rocking their daughter.

“Yes I do. It seems she’s a daddy’s girl and Jacob is a momma’s boy,” he replies, looking to the already calm children.

“I think that they just don't want a sibling yet. Oh well, they are our priority right now,” Katniss says as they lay the two infants down to sleep.

 

“So, how much longer before we have another?” Gale asks.

“At least a year,” Katniss says.

“I understand. I want to wait a year before you try and kill me again,” Gale agrees.

“Keep up that attitude and you won’t have to wait that long,” she responded with a smirk.

“Oh, something else is up,” Gale replies with equal attitude.

“I know you ache to make love to your beautiful wife,” Katniss says sweetly.

“You said it better than I could,” Gale agrees. “It’s been long enough since the birth for your lovely lady land to heal up,” he points out.

“Oh, the embarrassing things we’ve had to talk about with our mothers!” Katniss exclaims.

“That’s for sure,” Gale agrees. “Now where were we?” he adds with a gleam in his eye.

She pulled him back into a kiss. “Right here,” she answered before he shut her up with his tongue against hers.

“The only crying I wanna hear right now is my name from your lips,” Gale said mischievously as he unleashed the impressive contents of his undershorts. Katniss felt her body drench itself at the sight of her lover exposed, the sound of his dirty talk, the smell of his musk, the feel of his alternatingly smooth and rough but uniformly hard skin, the taste of his lips. It was too long in coming, and they definitely wouldn’t be too long in coming.

She lifted her blouse and tossed her bra aside while he yanked down her skirt and panties in the same motion. “My favorite forest, the best thing I’ve ever found in my second-favorite forest,” he panted while admiring his wife’s natural body. With them both still standing up, he wrapped his legs around his wife’s hips and thrust into her like he never had before.

Filled to bursting, she softly moaned “Gale! Gale!”, just as he predicted. This made him feel like _he_ was about to burst, and he slid out of her just in time to spray his seed on her chest. He started to carry her to the bathroom, but she had a better idea. “Bedroom!” she ordered raggedly, and he was fully hard again by the time he laid her on top of the blankets. She lied under him and gave herself over to absolute pleasure the way she had on the grass of a forest clearing on their wedding night. Her nails mad the same scratches on his back, but this time instead of keeping his member deep inside her, he aimed it at dark brown nipples in the middle of coppery areolae in the middle of bronze breasts.

 

“The first time your father had me was in those woods,” Ingrid admitted to her daughters. “In fact, the first time any man did,” she added, Katniss and Prim both blushing. “I’m so glad both of my girls are so lucky, in love at least.”

 

Rory hadn’t neglected Prim’s body either. “Apparently Hawthorne boys aren’t small in any way, shape or form,” she told her big sister gleefully.

“Dunno, I’m not sure how big men are supposed to be down there anyway,” Katniss answered truthfully, speaking to the one girl she cared to have such conversations with.

“I heard the average is about this,” Prim said, placing her hands what looked like a half foot apart. “Rory, though,” she added as she separated her hands a bit more.

“Gale too,” Katniss smiled. “But no wonder it hurt so much the first time,” she added, wincing at the memory.

“Rory knew it would be like that, but he wiped my tears away and his thing was soon the best thing I’ve ever felt,” Prim said happily.

“I’m so glad such a sweetheart found my Little Duck,” Katniss agreed.

 

This kind of perfect bliss continued for the three months until the reaping for the 77th Hunger Games. There was something in the air that felt like it would change Panem forever, and Gale and Katniss worried like they had during this season for the past three years. Oh, the woes of the Hawthorne and Everdeen families.


	10. Clove's Choice

Soon before the 77th Reaping, Clove Hawkins faced a major decision related to it. Would she enter the arena this summer or the maternity ward late next winter? As her breakfast vacated her stomach, her younger sister Flavia observed “Had a little too much fun with Cato, did you?”

“There’s no such thing as too much Cato,” Clove shot back with her usual attitude. She was known as the girlfriend of 74th Hunger Games victor Cato Adams, and had long since loved him.

 

Clove had for even longer dreamed of being a victor herself. In fact, she met Cato and developed her crush on him after entering the Career training academy of her own accord. Her brother was a Peacekeeper and their father had been one; she wanted to do them one better.

 

She damn sure had let Cato know how she felt, although for awhile it hadn’t worked. Her voice had been lost amongst the handsome boy’s other admirers. Also, he had thought she was too young for him. This was somewhat odd by District Two standards, where the girl being only three years younger was a relatively minor age difference. Clove’s father being nearly thirteen years older than her mother was fairly typical, although Cato’s father had been about the same age as his mother. Young and middle-aged adults thought differently than teenagers. They didn’t face age-of-consent issues, and most young adult men were off with the Peacekeepers, while fewer of the ladies were.

 

Shortly before his last reaping, Cato had finally seen how pretty she was and how well her attitude matched his own. Kissing her fiercely was the last thing he did before leaving as a tribute and the first thing he did when coming back as a Victor.

 

He had charmed many girls, which was to be expected looking at him, but she was about the only one to truly charm him. That aggressive young man seemed like the perfect match for the feisty little lady she was. She was sweet beneath her sarcastic exterior, and had brought out another aspect of him. Yet there was nothing tender about the way he buried himself rocks deep inside of her, pressing his hard chest up against her soft one, proving time and time again why Clove’s crotch craved Cato’s cock.

 

This went a long way towards explaining why, shortly before her last reaping, she was pregnant with his child. Also, someone in the birth control business had screwed up – and Clove  used Castle injections, which worked a lot better than a lot of other methods. Clove had given Cato one heck of a good 21st birthday, but because of that wasn’t so sure about her own 18th.

 Cato was definitely the man she wanted a family with, so this was just a question of timing. Nurturing mothers and hardass Career tribute trainers agreed it would be a horrible idea to deliberately go into an arena even three months pregnant. So Clove could be a mother now and never a tribute, or a victor now and a mother later, but not both.

Doctors could stop the pregnancy. It was a medical procedure, although not the simplest one. It was one that most women in the Capitol and the richer districts had access to, let alone a Victor’s beloved. The doctors knew that even the best birth control methods weren’t perfect, whether in theory or in practice. They also understood that a woman faced with a baby was the best one to know whether she should have kids, more of them, or have them right now.

 

All Clove knew was that she faced the hardest decision of her life. The two major dreams of that life, being with Cato and being a victor, were in conflict.

 

Seventeen years ago, the District Eight female had married her sweetheart as part of her victor’s homecoming. Maybe Clove would pull a Cecelia – although Hawkins and Weaver faced a multitude of different circumstances, that part would be the same.

 

Yet even for a Career of Clove’s capabilities, victory wasn’t absolutely assured. District Two’s past winners, including her future husband, could ensure she had weak competition from her own district by choosing the worst of the male volunteers. However, One and Four had no such reservations, and there were usually a few threatening tributes from the other nine districts. With famous tributes, other districts and maybe even the district partner relished taking them down. Clove doubted they could, but would she let them try?

 

The rules for the 75th Hunger Games, 3rd Quarter Quell, had been “To remind the districts of both the Capitol’s punishment and its mercy, if a tribute’s district partner dies they both die, but the final remaining district pair wins together.” The daughter and son of the District Two mayor were the ones to come back. Clove and Cato were good friends with both. They agreed with Clove’s assessment of her chances and added that a Victor’s life seemed good but not perfect. Mary might even end up as Clove’s sister-in-law once Alexander Hawkins got off Peacekeeper active duty. Lieutenant Hawkins was currently posted to his home district to guard the mayor, his family and staff, and had fallen in love with one of his charges.

 

Her hope of being a victor was within reach, yet her dreams of a life with Cato were already coming to fruition. She was going to take the absolutely sure thing, rather than go for the nearly sure one and risk losing both. “You’re going to be a father,” she said simply.

“And a husband,” he declared with the self-confidence that charmed her so. He had long since gotten the ring, although he had expected to present it in August instead of June. She used knives as craft tools on the rare occasions when she wasn’t throwing them, and Cato had a jeweler imitate the pattern of one of her bracelets. She now had a gold and silver braid on her left ring finger much like the intertwined pieces of leather on her right wrist.

 

“I could volunteer this year instead,” Flavia pointed out. She may not act quite like her big sister, but nevertheless shared in the Career academy dream with the odds in her favor to make it a reality.

“I’d really rather you didn’t,” Clove countered. “Think about how good you are now, imagine how much more dangerous you’d be in the 78th or 79th Games,” the elder Hawkins girl explained. “Cato could’ve won earlier than the 74th, but he was unstoppable in his last year.” _Although maybe I could’ve stopped him if I had gotten tired of being rejected by him_ , Clove reminisced to herself.

 

Clove’s 18th birthday would be very happy after all. June 20th was only a few days away, but District Two weddings were very simple. All thirteen of Cato’s fellow living District Two victors were there, although some of them muttered about what his bride was thinking – a confident Career suddenly afraid, a woman overly focused on herself as a wife and mother, missing a chance to be Cato’s equal, and so on – things Clove had also heard from non-victors. Lyme was normally so serious, yet she seemed downright cheerful about this. Clove was too - she had made her choice.


	11. Where It Really Begins

Today was the day of the 77th Reaping; Prim and Rory had never been more nervous for a reaping before. They had more than 10 slips each. They had snuck off again and pulled out more Tesserae without telling anyone. Of all the Seam kids, they had the most Tesserae except for some community home kids. When people found out they had taken Tesserae out, they were shocked, although their own families had been somewhat numbed by the first round of that news.

 

The town was just now meeting in the square, including Prim and Rory. They walked there together and checked in together. Prim started to go to the 15 year old girl section, but Rory caught her just in time. “Prim, remember, whatever happens today, I will always...,” he started. He had to look down into her eyes, being nearly as tall as Gale was at this age.

Prim figured Rory meant _love you_ , but didn’t find out for sure. Rory was interrupted by a Peacekeeper. “You two! To your areas!” the white-armored enforcer yelled. That was probably one of the reserves from the Capitol; one of their fellow Hob regulars probably wouldn’t have acted like that even on Reaping Day. Rory indeed didn't finish, not wanting to get Prim in trouble. He gave Prim a sad smile that said _I'll see you soon._

 

Prim went to her section and stood by Holly. “Hey Prim! How are you? What did Rory say?!” Holly questioned quickly.

She was about to ask more questions but she was cut off by Effie Trinket waltzing on to the stage. Mayor Undersee had just finished grudgingly reading the Treaty Of The Treason. “Welcome, Welcome. I'm Effie Trinket, district 12 escort! It is now time to choose the lucky tributes!” she exclaims.

 

She walks in her high heels to the reaping bowl. “Ladies first!” she says with just as much uncalled-for cheerfulness, digging her hand into the. She pulls the paper out and opens it very delicately. “Primrose Everdeen!” she shrills.

Prim doesn't know what's happening until Holly nudges her. “That's you Prim. Go up there,” Holly whispers through light tears that would soon become heavier. It hits Prim like a ton of coal as she walks through the crowd to the aisle. She is greeted by two Peacekeepers that put their hands on her shoulders. She shrugs them off and walks quickly to the stage.

“Hello dear! Well, come over here dear,” Effie grabs her and leads her to a certain spot on the stage.

 

“On to the boys!” the escort exclaimed. She rushes to the bowl and takes longer to find a name. She pulls a slip out and Prim can only hope it's not Rory or Vick. But she knows better. Luck and hope only goes so far on Reaping Day. She catches Rory’s eye and he nods. They both know the name that will be called. “Rory Hawthorne!” Effie screeches. Prim watches Rory make his way to the stage and take his place next to her. “I present the tributes of district 12, Rory Hawthorne and Primrose Everdeen! Round of applause!” she exclaims. However, no one claps. Someone in the roped-off areas for adults, probably Gale or Katniss, gets out only their left hand. They press the three middle fingers to their lips and hold that arm up for the hunters. Effie and her ilk deserved one middle finger, but this was just right for Prim and Rory – it was an ancient gesture of respect in District Twelve. And a way of saying goodbye. Within seconds, most of the crowd was copying the gesture.

 

“Tributes, shake hands,” Effie tells them, but they do her one better. They hug. Peacekeepers usher them off stage and into the Justice Building.

“Girl, room on right. Boy, room on left. They will be your visiting room,” a Peacekeeper instructs.

“We have the same family. What does it matter?” Rory says.

“Yes, but... oh I have nothing. Go in to the same room,” the Peacekeeper assents.

“Thank you. Good bye,” Rory says, and the two go into the room to wait.

 

“We really screwed ourselves over, Rory,” Prim states.

“I know,” he agrees, and the door flies open. Gale and Katniss come in with the twins.

“You guys will get through this. We know only one of you will come home, but make them regret this all. One of you will win,” Gale says.

“Shut up Gale. We should spend this time more wisely. Well, you'll see Prim again, so you guys should be saying goodbye to me,” Rory says, like it's obvious, but Prim slaps him instead.

“Rory’s, right, but don't count yourself out yet, Little Duck,” Katniss says.

“None taken. Can I hold my niece for the last time?” she asks, glaring at Rory.

“And can I hold my nephew for the last time?” Rory adds, glaring right back. Katniss and Gale sigh at their behavior and hand them over.

“Are you guys really arguing about who's going to die?” Gale asks.

The words catch them off guard, but Rory nods. “Yes. We love you guys. We'll miss you. Keep hunting, you know what to do. We won't be around to help any more. Just don't worry about us,” those are his parting words, because the Peacekeepers come in. They hand the twins over and get last hugs.

“We love you!” Prim shouts after them. One minute passes and the rest of their families come in. The same things happen as before, the hugs and sent love except for arguing about death. The families are taken away by Peacekeepers again.

They thought the other Everdeens and Hawthornes were the last visitors, but a four and a half month pregnant Madge runs in. “I don't have a lot of time. Here, use these as your district tokens. If you put the broken edges together, they fit. The birds are doves. Don't worry; I'll take care of your families. They will not be hungry,” she says. She pins them on to each of their clothes and leave without another word. They are stunned, but not even 30 seconds after, the Peacekeepers come in for them. They are led to the train and shown to their compartments. Prim falls onto her bed without another word. All she can think is, _I'm going into the Hunger Games with my best friend, hunting partner, and the boy I love._


	12. Cleaning And A Good Mentor

Prim had fallen asleep, only to be woken up 10 minutes later by Effie. “Time for dinner!” their escort yelled through the door. Prim got up and changed out of her dress into something more like she would wear at home. She put on black pants and a blue shirt that went up to under her breasts. She didn't like it, but it was the plainest thing she found. She was almost certain that the pants were made of denim, an expensive material back home. Her hair was left the way it was, pulled high up into a ponytail. She removed the gold pin Madge had given her and put it on her shirt. She walked slowly to the dining car to find drunken, stumbling Haymitch who was leaving the room and Rory who was trying to dab some wine off his white capitol made shirt. He had his pin on too; as well as the same place Prim's was, over the heart.

“Let me help you with that Rory,” Prim said, sighing. She grabbed a napkin, dipped it in some water, and started to dab his shirt.

“Damn, Prim! That water is cold!” he exclaimed.

“Shut up, Rory,” she whispers.

“I don't want to, though,” he whispers back. She stops dabbing his shirt and punches his stomach lightly, but enough to catch him off guard. “You want to play that way, then?” he asks mischievously. He backs away to the table and gets a giant spoonful of mashed potatoes.

“You wouldn't dare, Rory,” Prim hisses.

“Of course I would, my dearest Prim,” he responds in a mock Capitol accent, before flinging the potatoes at her. It lands on her stomach, right in the middle. “Oh dear, we must clean you up,” He said in the capitol voice. He dropped the spoon and got down to his knees, grabbed her hips, and started to lick her stomach.

“What the hell- oh Rory, stop it,” she said, her voice changing from angry to seductive. “Oh, Rory, not- not here... Rory!”

“You aren't clean yet, dearest Prim,” he replies, still licking her stomach.

“Rory, that, oh, just, that is-,” Prim stuttered.

 

“Whoa, what the hell did I walk in on?!” Haymitch exclaimed. He had a new bottle of wine and was standing in the doorway.

“What was that, Haymitch?” Effie asked who was trailing him. “Oh dear! What are you doing?!” she shrieked when she saw what her pair of tributes were doing.

Rory, with a confident smirk on his face, said, “Cleaning Prim's stomach, she's pretty dirty, she got mashed potatoes on herself. What did it look like I was doing?”

“Get a room,” Haymitch muttered as he sat at the table. Effie sat down too, murmuring something about animalistic behaviors.

“No problem!” Prim said as she grabbed Rory's hand and started to pull him to her room.

“Damnit, I didn't mean it literally!" He exclaimed. “Come sit down! We need to talk strategy!” the District Twelve victor exclaimed. This shocked Prim and Rory; they thought that Haymitch was a drunk that wouldn't help them. They walked back to sit. They sat next to each other, Rory across from Effie and Prim across from Haymitch. “We already have your angle. Your pins, those are doves right?” he said, pointing to their pins with a fork.

“ _What's our angle?_ ” Rory mocked. “And yes, doves,” he answers.

“I won't tell you yet. Now, let's get it out of the way. Do you want to be coached separately or together? For you, I have an idea that requires you to be coached separately,” Haymitch asks.

“Whatever you think is best,” Prim replies.

“Separately it is then!” he exclaims. “I like these two, Effie! We might actually have a winner finally! Now, you two! Do you have any strengths? Besides licking each other.”

“We both hunt with a bow and arrow. Prim can take down a bear. She's really good,” Rory responds quickly. He ignores their mentor’s last remark.

“Well, Rory is strong and is great with a bow and arrow, too,” Prim says.

“Good. Do you have anything else to use?” he questions.

“Remember that her sister and my brother are married and have 4 month old twins. And we met through them seven years ago. They introduced us while at school. Of course they weren’t together then, my brother was still king of the slag heap,” Rory announces.

 

“I was at the Justice Building with Ripper and the rest, but I still can’t believe Gale settled down!” Haymitch exclaimed. Rory and Prim laughed with him. “Well, he’s your brother and brother-in-law. I only know him through Ripper,” Haymitch explained. “And trading on occasion. I actually think I may have traded with you two once or twice. Anyway, you two go rest. We will reach the Capitol in the morning. You will be put into the hands of the stylists. Whatever you do, do not resist. You need as many people as possible rooting for you.”

 

They nod and go down the hall. Rory starts towards his door, but Prim pulls him back. He gives her a confused glance, but Prim says mischievously, “I'm not clean yet.” Rory smiles and follows her into her room.

They make out like they did before Haymitch and Effie interrupted them, and let's just say Rory cleaned Prim's stomach. They fell asleep with no clothing on and with Prim lying on top of him. They wake up by Effie's high pitched squeal.

“What are you doing?! Rory, this isn't your room!” she squeaks, even higher-pitched than is normal for the Capitol. They weren’t doing anything now, but what they had done last night, on the other hand – Prim hadn’t known she could ache so good, even with Rory.

“Oh, hey, Effie!” Prim exclaims, sitting up. She didn't realize that she had no shirt on until Haymitch wanders in.

“Hey, everybody!” Abernathy slurs. “Nice boobs, Primrose!” he says, pointing at her chest. He did have a point – it was one of the many ways in which the youngest Everdeen was growing up to be like her mother; those were two of the many parts of Ingrid Kolster that had been worn down by becoming Ingrid Everdeen.

“Oh, dear!” Prim squeals, pulling the blanket up.

“Hey! Watch where you're looking!” Rory yells, standing up. “Complimenting her lovely lady lumps is my job!” he added. Rory hadn’t realized he had woken up hard like usual. _Dreaming of not-so-little duck again?_ he wondered once he noticed.

“Whoa there, Rory! Cover yourself!” Haymitch exclaims, trying to cover his eyes without spilling his flask. However, Effie was rather impressed, and looked closer, but it was only Prim he’d ever press into.

“THAT'S ENOUGH! EVERYONE OUT!” Prim screams. Effie and Haymitch hurry out the door.

 

“Damn, you can sure get your point across,” Rory complimented.

“Thank you. Now, go get dressed and showered. I don't want anyone else finding us like this,” Prim answered and suggested.

“Fine. I'll see you at breakfast,” he agrees. He leaves and Prim showers for the first time on the train. She actually manages to end up smelling like the flower she was named for, instead of the aura of coal dust – and Rory’s body. She dresses in a dark crimson top like yesterday’s and dark blue denim pants. She pulls her hair up into the same fashion as yesterday. Overall, she’s wearing the same things, only in different colors. She meets Rory in the dining car. He is talking to Haymitch.

“Hey Rory. Haymitch,” she greets. "Where is Effie?"

“In her room, traumatized,” Haymitch chuckles.

“She sure wasn’t traumatized by seeing me,” Rory jokes, and the middle-aged man laughs along with him.

“Never come into either of out rooms without knocking. Actually, never come into our rooms at all,” Prim says sternly.

“I honestly think Effie learned her lesson. This has never happened to her before. She is used to them sleeping clothed and _alone_ ,” Haymitch explained.

“Well, we aren't your regular kids. I would've thought she knew better, considering that Rory was licking my stomach clean.”

“Which did eventually get clean by the way,” Rory adds, although he may have dirtied it with something else by the time they were finished.

“Not now, Rory!” Prim hisses.

“Yeah, I saw enough this morning. I know you two are like best friends or something, but keep it to yourselves,” Haymitch admits.

“No problem,” Prim responds. All of a sudden the train went black. Prim dove into Rory’s open arms. Pretty soon it got light again.

“Welcome to the Capitol, tributes, welcome,” Haymitch announces, walking out of the dining car. Effie comes in, not looking at either of them.

“In five minutes we will be pulling into the station so ready yourself,” she says in a brisk voice, her professionalism having returned. However, her tributes already have everything they need, including their pins over their hearts.


	13. Are You Afraid Of Fire?

Prim and Rory slowly walked to the train window and looked out on the station. There were many people there screaming and cheering. They started to wave and Prim blew kisses. The crowd was going crazy.

“My goodness, I've never seen such a big crowd for district 12. Must be that they like you. Haymitch will be pleased,” Effie says curtly.

“Thank you, Effie. I would like to apologize for earlier. Had we known you were coming in we would’ve been decent,” Prim replies softly. This seems to satisfy Effie and she ends up smiling.

“Oh dear, I'm sorry, I should have knocked. Come on now; let's get off the train; into the remake center now,” Effie says, leading Prim and Rory off the train. The crowd is screaming for them, causing Prim to get nervous.

“It's okay, Prim, I'm here for you,” Rory says, smiling down at her, and grabbing her hand and squeezing it.

“Thank you Rory," She replies, squeezing his hand and smiling at him, the combined gestures making the crowd go even more wild.

 

They are soon torn apart though. Prim grits her teeth as they tear the wax off her legs. “Oh my goodness! We are already almost done! You are clearly one of the best tributes we've ever had! And you don't complain!” the plump women with pea green skin exclaims. “Plus you are already pretty! Cinna will like you!”

“Oh, thank you so much! You are all really pretty too!” Prim exclaims with fake happiness. The three women don't know it's fake though; they seem very naïve to Prim.

“Oh! Thank you! Let's get Cinna!” another woman, this one with aqua hair, says. The trio runs out of the room leaving Prim alone. She sits up and waits. A man with darker skin and a hint of gold eyeliner comes in; Prim assumes this is Cinna.

“Hello Primrose, I'm your stylist Cinna. My colleague, Portia, is the stylist for the other district 12 tribute. You can put your robe on,” he says gently. Prim tenses up when he spoke of Rory. “You two know each other? From before the reaping?” he asks.

“Yes, our siblings are married,” Prim says as she puts her robe on.

“You two go further than that,” He stated. It wasn't even a question, he knew. Prim just shrugs, but can't help the tears that well in her eyes. This is the first time she has cried about the Hunger Games since she was reaped, actually it's the first time she has cried since Rory and she broke it off. “It's okay, Primrose; I'm here to help you. I want you to make an impression. I've been saving this costume for years, just waiting for the perfect tributes to make it come alive. Now tell me Primrose, are you afraid of fire?”

“Not at all. No one calls me Primrose by the way, it's Prim,” She says with a smile. They all met at the chariot, finishing last minute details. Rory's jaw dropped when he saw Prim - he had never seen her look so beautiful. Similarly, In Prim's eyes, Rory looked even more like the most handsome boy in the world. They had skintight body suits and just enough makeup to make them look radiant, but not overwhelming or unrecognizable. The flames had not yet been lit, so they had time to speak.

“This is crazy, Rory,” Prim whispers.

“We've done worse at home. Like taking out the Tesserae that got us into this mess,” he replies.

 

Then a girl, who looks to be from District Eleven, comes over to them. She looks to be their age, and at first glance they think she is a tribute. “Hello, my name is Rue. District 11's ‘trainee’ mentor for this year. I won the Hunger Games last year. Finnick and I were the youngest ever to win,” she says. Prim and Rory just gawk at her. “Oh dear, I know what you're thinking. I didn't kill anyone. It came down to the boy from my district and district two’s male tribute. They fought to the death but both died from bleeding out. I'm the second never to kill anyone. You two are my age, right?”

Prim snaps out of shock and responds. “It's lovely to meet you. I’m Prim and this is Rory. I'm sorry we had to meet under these circumstances. Sorry about Rory, too. He's an idiot on occasion. Only sometimes though.”

“You two knew each other before?” she asked with wide eyes.

“Yes. We're close. _Very_ close,” Rory says. Prim lightly smacks his arms at rue's slight gasp.

“Sorry about him. He doesn't know what's appropriate to say and what's inappropriate. But yes, we probably are as close as you think we are. Wait. What level of close are you thinking?” Prim told Rue.

“Well, I heard your escort talking about inappropriate behaviors while on the train. I didn't know how true it was. I must go; the chariots are almost ready to go. I hope to see you again. Lovely meeting you; Good-bye!” she exclaims, running off. Cinna instructs them to get on to their chariot. They do as they are told. As the District One pair takes off, the District Twelve pair suddenly feels a light tickling sensation. They are surprised to find that they are already on fire. Too soon, their chariot rolls forward. Instantly, Prim grabs Rory’s hand. The crowd was cheering for District Four, when they caught sight of District Twelve’s radiant, young, and cheerful teenagers.

 

Back in their district, it seems everybody gasps when they see their tributes. The Hawthorne and Everdeen families were at Katniss and Gale’s house when they saw them. Posy, who had only just been told what was happening to Prim and Rory, started to laugh. Everyone gave her a funny look.

“What? They just look happy!” the little girl exclaimed. Gale was studying the screen. He saw how Prim and Rory were holding hands with interlaced fingers- how he and Katniss held hands. The parade was soon over and the families went to their respective homes.

“Katniss,” he whispered. She looked up to him after putting Jacob to bed.

“Yes Hun?” she asked as she left the twins room.

“I know there is more to Prim and Rory than they have let on since they broke up,” he said as he got into bed.

“Oh, I knew. Whenever Prim would sleep over she would say Rory's name in her sleep. I'm just sad that they can’t really fall in love because of the Hunger Games. But knowing those two, they'll find a way out of this whole ordeal.”

“Good point. Good night love. I love you,” Gale agreed sweetly.

“I love you too,” she responded with a smile on her face. As she drifted off to sleep, she thought _Love always finds a way. No matter what._


	14. No Playing

“The first day of training is tomorrow. Don’t show off your skills unless utterly necessary. Let’s say the careers are looking at you like you're raw meat. Do something you’re good at. Yet don’t use a bow during public training if you want one in the arena. Show off to the gamemakers during your private sessions – that’s when you use a bow. No ‘playing’ tonight, you need energy,” Haymitch instructs when they get off the chariot and into the elevator to the training center. “Loved the holding hands, perfect touch of rebellion. You two made an impact, they loved you. We'll have sponsors lining up out the doors. Beautiful, you two. Get ready for dinner.”

Prim and Rory look at each other and raise an eyebrow.

“Come on you two! Off to your rooms! Follow me!” Effie shrills. Prim rolls her eyes but still follows because Rory grabs her by the waist. “I had the Avox put you two together so don't worry about being caught sneaking around at night. Just don't tell Haymitch,” Effie whispers as she leads them into the giant room.

“Oh, thank you Effie! I appreciate it!” Prim says.

“I'll come get you in an hour for dinner,” Effie says. She scurries through the door mumbling something about pearls.

 

“Rory, get dressed. Something appropriate please. Don't want to piss off Effie,” Prim advised.

“You may not want to, but I do,” he smirks.

“Fine, then. No playing tonight, like Haymitch said.”

“Dammit,” Rory muttered.

“Thought so. Why don't you wear something like you would when we hunt? They have plenty of choices,” Prim continued.

“Whatever,” he huffed. He got dressed in the bathroom while Prim dressed in the room. He took a while, considering that Prim was already done when he got back. “I hate it here Prim. I miss our families. I wish we never signed up that damn tesserae.”

“I'm not sorry. When you make it home our families will be fed without worry,” Prim says too causally.

“Dammit, Prim! Why can't you accept the fact that you are going home and not me?!” Rory snaps.

“Because I'm not going to accept something that isn't true,” Prim answers.

“Prim, you don't understand. If I live, I won't really live. You on the other hand have a chance at life. The only reason why people put up with me, Katniss, and Gale is because they all like you. You will be missed more than I ever will,” Rory explained.

“What about me?! How do you think I feel about this?! Fuck, Rory, I won't have a life without you! We're already going into the Hunger Games, so my life is over. When I get back I'll be labeled a killer not to mention I'll live with the guilt if you don't make it!” Prim pointed out.

“That's how I feel! You are my life, and you are going to live it for the both of us! Do you understand?” Rory insisted.

“No I don't! We are one life in two separate bodies. If you are dead, I'm dead,” Prim countered.

“Oh, Prim,” he sighs, hugging her. He kisses her on her lips gently and smiles. “You want to know a secret?”

“Sure,” she whispers.

“I'm in love with you,” he says.

“That’s no secret, and neither is the fact that I’m in love with you too,” Prim answered.

“Promise you won't ever leave me?” Rory wheedled.

“Only if you promise me,” Prim said.

“Prim... Please, just promise me that one thing and we won’t talk about it until it’s time to,” Rory pleaded.

“I'm afraid I might one day have to break that promise,” Prim admitted, “but for now I promise!”

“Thank you!” Rory shouted, overjoyed. Yet him and his girlfriend had all too much of an understanding of what was going on.

 

They remain embraced in their hug for several minutes until Effie comes in. “Come now! Dinner is ready! Sorry for the interruption, but you need to eat! You have a big, big tomorrow!” she chirps.

“Okay, Effie, we're coming,” Prim responds.

“That's the attitude, dear! After all, you are the best pair of tributes we’ve gotten in years!”

“Thank you Effie, you're pretty damn awesome, too. You aren’t as atrocious as we thought you were to be,” Rory says following her, with Prim of course, out the door.

“I like you! Aren’t you two just dolls? So nice to me, not rude at all!” she smiles, not catching his double meaning. They gathered in the apartment’s dining room, but the first dinner would be with all the tributes at a dining hall on one of the lower floors.

Haymitch leaned over and whispered into Rory’s ear, “You two are doing it right, Effie sure seems to like you two.”

“Uh, thanks?” Rory answers through a bit of a giggle.

 

At fifteen, Rue Clayton was younger than most _tributes_ , including her district’s own, but as the odds predicted, there were some even younger than her. She was the youngest mentor in history. Her own mentor had desperately needed the break. Seeder of the 19th Games was worn down by 57 years of this, and their fellow District Eleven ladies Apple and Peach had long since taken their places in the tribute cemetery. Chaff was the only male victor in their district’s history, after coming so close to others in the 74th and 76th Games. He certainly had gone through more than enough to drive a man to drink, and there was a bottle being passed between him and Haymitch right now, although Chaff had to use his one good hand.

 

At dinner, no pair of tributes was as close as Rory and Prim were. Few people were anyway, but especially not these 22. In the Career district, two people who cared about each other wouldn’t volunteer to go into the Games together, with the exception of the recent Third Quarter Quell rule. Yet that remained an exception – with only one coming out, the others were all just thinking of themselves now.


	15. These Are Just Games

            “Prim, are you pregnant?” Rory wonders.

            “I don’t think so. Why?” she says, wondering why he’s asking.

            “If we say you are, it’ll help make sure you get home,” Rory explained.

            “If you insist on making sure I’m the one who goes home, then so be it,” Prim resigned herself to saying.

 

When they suggested the lie to Haymitch, he thought it was a brilliant idea. “Those rich idiots don’t care about twenty-three already-born children, but maybe they will feel sorry for one fetus,” he rants, “and as soon as they see the tributes as anything more than fodder for their sick twisted amusement, things change.”

“Capitol women must have babies too,” Prim pointed out.

“Yeah, I don’t think they’re grown in vats,” Haymitch mutters sarcastically. “Why they can’t continue to realize we’re people too twelve to eighteen years after we’re born I don’t know,” he continues, relatively mild compared to some of the things Rory’s heard Gale say over the years.

 

Effie figured it would be believable after the rumors that spread about Rory and Prim’s behavior on the train. “And who spread those rumors, Trinket?” Abernathy accused.

            “At least that’s all I was spreading,” Effie says to admit the truth but dismiss it with a harrumph.

            “Seems you don’t behave so properly when you think other people aren’t,” Prim snarls. “Doesn’t make sense. And I think somebody was jealous,” she adds, continuing to rage at her escort.

            “Well, nevermind THAT!” Effie says, reluctant to agree. “Maybe a little _playing_ is good for you two after all,” she admits.

            “And maybe running your mouth about it was better than I thought,” Prim shoots back.

 

            “Hestrashed Imbibernathy over there advised me to loosen my corset and have a drink, I instead loosened my tongue to the point of saying something I shouldn’t have,” Effie admits.

            “That’s nothing!” Haymitch bellowed, staggering back from the liquor cart. “At least what you said was true!”

 

            Rory and Prim pretended to be unimpressive during the public training, though they both ached to get to the gleaming bows in that section of the Training Center.

 

Electrum of One was the tribute to watch out for. He didn’t project the air of stupidity that tributes of his district and gender usually did, and his reach with all manner of handheld weapons was truly terrifying. He had powerful friends; it was clear that he and his mentor Sapphire had more than a professional interest in each other.

Looking at them, it was quite understandable why. Electrum was the only man Rory had ever seen who was even taller than the Hawthorne brothers, and with even more muscle. “The wonders of a healthy diet,” Prim muttered. Rory figured she had a point, medically speaking. _I could have been even taller?_ he marveled to himself.

Since Prim already had Rory, she didn’t need to look at Electrum, but she did anyway. Rory wasn’t one to talk, and he was hardly the first boy Sapphire rendered speechless. She was nearly as big and strong as anyone, and was one of the few women to make Prim look small-chested.

 

Electrum’s tribute partner Isabelle seemed like a typical District One girl, although Prim was still the prettiest lady in the room, definitely the best-looking of the female tributes. The girl from Two seemed dangerous but not nearly as deadly as the Career volunteers usually were.

 

Prim spent much of her time at the plant station, learning about medicinal herbs she wasn’t familiar with from back home. This wouldn’t draw much attention, but even so, she downplayed her vast knowledge.

 

Both of them hit all the archery targets in their private sessions, and so well that they had to make trick shots against other objects in the Training Center. Even so, a heavyset Gamemaker had to nudge his comrades to pay attention.

 

The training scores were announced next evening before the interviews. Electrum got a not exactly unprecedented but still rare 12. His fellow Careers landed between 9 and 11. A few others were in that range or close, but many were not. The boys from Districts Seven and Nine had the ignominy of a 1. Rory laughed. It seemed clear to him and Prim that the District Seven male was faking it, a transparent imitation of Johanna Mason, their victor from a few years ago. The whole District Twelve team jumped up and down when Rory and Prim got matching 11’s.

 

As the interviews were about to start, the tributes waiting in the wings saw Caesar’s showmanship on full display as he whipped up the Capitol crowd. Like Cinna, his fashion was downright reserved by Capitol standards, but he played perfectly to people dressed in and augmented with who knows what. Rory wore a simple white shirt, Prim an equally plain white dress – what passed for wedding finery in District Twelve.

 

So far the District Seven boy was the only one with a story remotely comparable to Rory and Prim’s. Douglas Sawyer’s older sister, the pigtailed girl Logroll, had been butchered in the bloodbath of the 74th Games. Their father still walked the earth, but right now Spruce probably almost wished he didn’t, with one child dead and the other seemingly about to be.

 

            Finally the little duck got to float on stage. “Beautiful lady like you must have a special guy,” Caesar pointed out.

            “I sure do,” Prim agreed, “but going home won’t help with that,” she added sadly.

            “How come?” Caesar wondered.

            “Because he came here with me,” Prim explained, and the audience was in shock. They remembered Amber and Agate of District One two years ago who had done that intentionally with the intention of coming back together – and they had, to their district’s tribute cemetery. Even the Capitol crowd realized how profoundly the odds weren’t in Prim and Rory’s favor. “When I get back,” she said confidently, “I’ll still have my wonderful mother and sister and niece and nephew,” she gushed, “but not him,” she finished, perfectly conveying the mixed emotions she felt.

            Even Caesar Flickerman the media mastermind was taken off-guard, but he recovered enough to say “Surely even a little time is better than no time?”

            “I’d think that too,” Prim agrees, “if it weren’t for our baby”. The chattering crowd fell completely silent, as if her previous announcement hadn’t been enough. Haymitch was right. It had managed to affect the decadent hypocrites. The shock used up much of the rest of Prim’s interview time, but the news would take more than a few seconds to sink in throughout the country.

            Caesar gets in the last word before his partner Claudius Templesmith calls time. “I can’t bet, but if I could, I’d bet on that being a wonderful baby”.

 

            “If the arena doesn’t get to that boy, I will!” Gale yells about his brother.

            “Relax, relax,” Ingrid counters, although she should have known telling that to her son-in-law was probably pointless. “It isn’t Prim’s time of the month yet, so how can she be late?” she announced to the other Everdeens and Hawthornes watching with her.

            “My thoughts exactly, Mother,” Katniss added. “I’m not going to be an aunt quite yet.”

            “About time the Capitol was on the receiving end of some lies,” Gale declares. “Prim does keep giving us reasons to grow more and more proud of her,” he assesses.

 

            Rory was also growing up all too fast, and now it was his turn to face the glare of the entire country. “Is it true?” Caesar immediately inquired.

            “Of course it is,” he answered crisply. “How could I not fall in love with that young lady?” _Time to lay it on thick_ , he hold himself before continuing his speech. “We all know how beautiful she is on the outside,” he announced to hoots and hollers, “but I’m one of the lucky few who got to know how beautiful she is on the inside,” he continued sweetly. _And the first on the inside of her_ , he says only to himself. “The odds will always have been in my favor on that,” he says publically.

            “And you’re a good-looking sweetheart yourself,” Caesar answered.

            The audience loudly agrees before Rory gets a chance to. “Don’t I know it, and she knows it too,” he says though a bit of forced laughter. “Such a caring, nurturing, sweet, loving young woman, I’m sure she’ll be a wonderful mother,” he choked out, all pretense of amusement gone. _And I’ll never see myself be the father_ , the tears said.

            “She would, she would,” Caesar gamely agreed, but his professional façade was beginning to disintegrate. Inside his heart may be breaking, his makeup may be flaking, but his smile still stayed on.

            “And tough,” Rory could now say, the District Twelve training scores having destroyed the pretense of their mostly-harmless act. However, Rory maintained the secret of how those scores had been obtained. “So if you threaten her, you better be worried about both of us,” he said, supposedly speaking to their fellow tributes.

 

            What he said was revolutionary. Most tributes looked out for themselves, with their district partner as a secondary choice. Rory had been wholly devoted to Prim. No one doubted his love for her, least of all the boy himself. Many men said such flowery words, and some reacted admirably in the heat of the moment, but few said them knowing they were one day removed from having to back them up with their lives. Him and his beloved had sure put on a show.


	16. Adams' Aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I revised Chapter 4 after I revisited it in the process of writing Chapter 15.

            The District Twelve pair made for some very interesting aftermath of the new Mrs. Adams’ decision. She wondered if even she could have beat them – had staying out of the arena proved wise, or was she simply looking to justify what she’d done after the fact? After all, nothing that serious was undertaken without doubt.

 

The Games strategist in her realized that they were a particularly threatening pair – the gorgeous lovebirds would get sponsors aplenty. Also, she figured that at least the boy was more capable than his unimpressive performance in public training indicated. Were they pulling a Johanna Mason, concealing their true strength until it was too late for their opponents? Miss Mason had won only five years ago, but people had short memories. It seemed her own district remembered, the way their male tribute was behaving. That act worked partially because it blended in all too well with the genuinely weak tributes those districts usually produced.

 

Clove wondered if Douglas was getting to know Johanna personally. Electrum, though, left no doubt about his feelings for a mentor. This was a man who made Clove’s strapping six foot two husband look average by comparison, but no one could distract Clove from the man she knew so well. At any rate, Electrum and Sapphire were both unbelievably classically gorgeous people, but even they seemed vulnerable to the threat from Twelve.

 

Like most of the country, Clove was floored to learn of Primrose’s pregnancy. Miss Hawkins, now Mrs. Adams, was doubly shocked since she had purposely avoided going into the arena pregnant, a choice that Miss Everdeen never had. Clove was already getting skeptical of the Games she had rejected, and now her faith was shattered. Most District Two victors and loved ones thereof gathered at one of the Victors Village houses to watch the Games. Clove stood up in the middle of the Lazare house crowd and started chanting “Prim-rose! Prim-rose!”

Some saw a sympathetic pregnant woman acting silly. “Traitor,” others muttered. They were probably thinking of her abandoning District Two for the sake of District Twelve. Yet Clove’s thoughts were bigger than that – abandoning the Capitol for the sake of all the districts.

 

Primrose hadn’t mentioned a father, so Clove assumed he was dead, his daughter not spiteful enough to leave him out. She had mentioned a niece and nephew, so that mother wouldn’t be a new grandmother.

Clove was quite familiar with how excitable those could be. Teresa Anthony was overjoyed that her son had indeed settled down after first welcoming Clove’s feelings three years ago. _Not exactly,_ Clove thought. _He’s the same man, just with the same woman every night, and I’m overjoyed to be that woman._ Ivy was just happy to be considering such things instead of the fate of her second child and first daughter in the arena.

Cato’s father Julius Adams had died before he could marry the mother of his child. However, if Clove was having a girl, there would be a Teresa Adams after all. ‘Ivy’ sounded beautiful with that, so they had a middle name. Yet ‘Julius’ and ‘Hannibal’ didn’t go together so well, so a first son would be Julius Adams II and a second son Hannibal Adams.

 

Lyme decided to pay Clove a visit soon after the crowd dispersed for the night. “I’m not concerned about you choosing a husband and children, but I am happy that you didn’t choose the Games,” Lyme explained. “I know what it’s like in there and wouldn’t have wished that on you even if you made it out. You have it made back here. I at least made it out of the stoneworkers’ shacks.”

“I notice the trainees you support are also from the actual masonry part of our masonry district,” Clove observed.

“Exactly,” Lyme agreed. “I don’t know what the mayor’s daughter and son were thinking. Well, because Patrick Lazare I got his children back, the Capitol doesn’t suspect any disloyalty, but seeing what his government did to his children, he’s also growing skeptical.”

“Livia’s livid about not getting hers back at all,” Clove said, referring to the 55th Games victor who lost her daughter Livia II in the 76th Games. The first Livia had killed her district partner in the final showdown, who died not knowing his girlfriend back home was pregnant. The child he’d never know? Cato. It took until last year for Livia to apologize and for Teresa and Cato to forgive, redirecting their anger at the Capitol where it belonged. They all quickly came to the support of the District Twelve pair.

“Livia may seem hypocritical, but better late than never,” Lyme mused, knowing that story directly from the two fellow victors involved. “Your brother seems to be of higher motives, loving Ms. Mary Lazare more than the Capitol, but is questioning the big city all the same.”

“Ah, but even with a lot of us, how can we do anything about it?” Clove said dejectedly.

“That’s exactly how,” Lyme said as enthusiastically as her level-headed self could muster and as loudly as the sensitive subject matter allowed. “The Capitol’s caught between rocks and a hard place with Primrose and Rory. The one or both of them that die will be martyrs for people that have had enough of the Capitol. The usual behavior of Panem’s esteemed leadership doesn’t push quite enough people to rebellion, but this especially cruel Games could be enough to create a critical mass.”

“And if they lose the district most of their soldiers come from, they’re fucked,” Clove observed.

“Us more so than the other ones,” Lyme agreed, “but really, all of us together with the help of another – District Thirteen was not really destroyed in the first rebellion, they’ve been waiting for the right time for a second, and that time is now.”

 

Lyme followed Clove home, although everyone living in Victors Village were near-neighbors anyway. “It’s a goddamn waste to have #10 to myself,” she pointed out. “Typical. Not only does the Capitol take from the districts, they waste what they take. Those houses are more than enough for even six people like Cato’s family and yours”.

Clove’s address was 14 Victors Village, Cato being their district’s 14th victor, but their house was the third one. When the Hunger Games began as the immediate aftermath of the failed first rebellion, the Capitol built twelve identical mansions in each of the twelve districts. Once a district had a thirteenth victor family, it began reissuing the houses of dead victors. Constantine of the 21st Games had been the 3rd District Two victor and the 2nd to die afterwards. The Capitol built a new one of the same design when the others were all occupied. That first happened for the Lazares in 75. District One had 13 victors, but 4 were of the Goldman family, and 2 others were dead, leading to 8 houses occupied. District Four used 9 of theirs and District Three needed 7.

All that must be a bitter pill to swallow in the districts that only had a few victors. Eleven had 5 victors, 2 dead. Five, Six, Seven, and Ten had each lost 1 of their 4. Eight and Nine had both lost 1 of 3, and Primrose or Rory would also be 1 of only 2 living victors from their district.

A few in the inner districts benefitted from such bias, but the Capitol really did, as the districts were set against each other instead of against the city that controlled them. “And dividing parts of the same district. No wonder you stoners hate both us and the Capitol,” Clove thought aloud.

Lyme laughed off that name for her part of the district, but quickly turned deadly serious again. “Of course the darker-skinned people are treated like shit. I figure a certain pale girl and dark boy couple is the exception in their district. Whether or not it’s about what we look like, _divide et impera_ is sadly the oldest trick in the book”. She recognized Clove’s confusion at the unfamiliar phrase and explained “ _Divide and conquer_ in Latin, a language from long before. The Capitol even named the country after the way they implement that strategy. _Panem_ , short for _Panem et circenses_ , bread and circuses, food and entertainment.”

“No wonder they don’t teach that in the academy!” Clove assessed.

Lyme talked as if she was practicing a political speech, which she may well be. “It’s the rich man’s law to know your place and not complain while you’re working for them in horrible conditions. Maybe we’ll see the day when that’s swept away. We can make that day!”

 

Lyme and Clove finally reached the house shared by the Adams and Hawkins families. Cato was glad to have his in-laws living with him, and not just to keep his wife happy. Flavia was like one of the siblings he’d never have with the Adams family being cut short. Hannibal was the closest thing he’d have to a father, and Cato was the closest thing to a son in Hannibal’s life while Alexander was off in the barracks. The two men were playing a board game that had been ancient even as Panem coalesced; Clove walked in on her husband yelling “Checkmate!” at her father.

“Already, boy?” Mr. Hawkins muttered as he assessed the board in a way that confirmed it. He looked up and said “Hi there, Spice, glad you could finally join us”.

 

“Lyme had some heavy stuff to talk about,” Clove said quite truthfully.

“The war our friends from Twelve seem to be starting?” Hannibal said loudly.

“How did you know?” Lyme asked, shocked by his insight or luck.

“My old man was in the Corps for the previous one,” Hannibal began in a reverent voice. Tradition, family or otherwise, had fueled military life in innumerable places and times. “And he told me what he could. He saw the districts getting angrier and angrier in the few years before, and tried to get his superiors to pay heed, but was ignored. He saw the sparks struck by Thirteen even before they ignited the fuel the President of the time had left lying around.” Problems being ignored until it was too late and grand events having a leadup to what set them off were both common themes in human history, military or civilian. “I’m seeing some of the same things these days”.

“He clearly imparted an intelligent understanding,” Lyme complimented. Clove was taking in the history family and national, only some of which was already familiar to her.

“He tried to fight it intelligently, but was overwhelmed by the stupidity and bloodlust of his comrades and superiors,” Hannibal answered. How many millions of soldiers before Constantine Hawkins had seen their ideals of war dashed by grim realities? “My sister and I tried to continue his work, but our time in the white was relatively peaceful anyway”.

“Ah, Aunt Theodora,” Clove reminisced. Many of Clove and Flavia’s fondest early memories were of her, but she had died a few years into her nieces’ lives.

 

“I feel for the current generation of young men and women going through what I did, and not just because my son is one of them, I don’t want their sufferings to be continued and multiplied,” Hannibal spoke. “And lieutenants like him and sergeants like his old man live better than the rank and file”.

“The current system is crumbling and can’t be mortared back together; it has become necessary to work outside it,” Lyme added with equal strength of purpose.

“I suppose so – I don’t want to see the light snuffed out again. But how?” Hannibal answered and questioned.

“District Thirteen survived the first rebellion after all and also feels a second is in order,” Lyme explained. “Where and how did you serve? I like this idea of working with veterans seeing the truth.”

“District Two, Recruitment And Training Regiment,” he barks back in cadence

“Don’t piss off your ex-drill instructor father,” Clove clarified.

“The rebels will need to tear down recruits and build them up as soldiers too,” Lyme said enthusiastically.

“We know how to fight,” Hannibal says of his district. “Sometimes it seems like we were reduced to that. It’s about time we were on the right side”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clove’s father talking about his military career is the only Armistice/Veterans Day on-topic update I could think of for any of my stories, after topical updates for other holidays.


	17. We Who Are About To Die

Haymitch Abernathy had reason to celebrate instead of be sorrowful considering his tributes’ performance in front of Caesar. For the first time in twenty-seven long years, he might just get a tribute back. Yet knowing the barely-living District Twelve victor, he took it as a reason to drink anyway. “Well, that’ll get you even more sponsors!” he told his charges enthusiastically.

            “That was beautiful!” Prim gushed at Rory, before pre-empting his response in the best way possible, occupying his lips with hers, and his hands also found where they belonged, tracing their way along her lithe legs.

            “You already have a room – why don’t you go there?” Haymitch suggested.

            Prim didn’t need much prompting, bounding off with a spring in her step. Life in the Seam have given her all too much practice at keeping up her cheer under dire circumstances.

 

            “Hey, shorty!” yelled one of the few people with any right to call a Hawthorne man that. Electrum Goldsmith came off as someone who channeled his rage effectively, as befit the most dangerous of the Career tributes – he wasn’t usually this pointlessly aggressive. However, he wasn’t about to let Rory’s interview go unchallenged.

            “Jealous?” Rory answered. _You wishing you were like that? Sapphire wishing she had someone like that?_

            “No, this isn’t my last night alive,” Electrum shot back. “I suppose you may as well spend yours trying to get laid. Nice stunt, but this is a fight to the death, not a love poetry contest,” he taunted.

            “Tell Sapphire that,” Rory pointed out, not at all unnerved. All Electrum let on was animal attraction to another physical wonder, but Rory suspected something more. Even if he admitted it privately, he hadn’t told everyone else in grand style like Rory had just had.

 

            Rory was glad Electrum hadn’t made himself even more of a threat, but was frustrated about a way in which the interviews could have gone even better. “I can’t believe I forgot to tell them Prim and I share that niece and nephew,” he muttered to himself after being left alone by Electrum.

            Back in the apartment, Prim couldn’t believe it either. On the other hand, Haymitch thought it was a happy accident. “You’ll have something left for the crowds later – you gave them more than enough tonight, both of you. Now make it to the final eight so it can come up when they interview your families – or is that family?”

            “I suppose we ought to go to sleep soon -  tomorrow’s going to be a big, big, big day!” Prim pointed out, parroting Effie.

            “Which bed shall I find both of you in tomorrow morning?” the subject of the mimicry wondered.

            “That’s the spirit, Trinket!” Haymitch complimented.

 

            “Rory’s,” Prim said softly, leading her boyfriend there. “This might be my last time alone with you, and I’m gonna make it count by creating the best memories I can,” she whispered to him.

“I’m having similar thoughts, with my penis though they may be,” Rory answered.

“And what a penis!” Prim whispered back, and they started to get louder, with fits of devious laughter, yet this was nothing compared to the volume they both were about to bring out of each other.

As she pulled the door shut, he unbuttoned his shirt just enough to yank it over his head, and ditched his lower clothes just as easily. He sat on the edge of the bed in all his physical glory and figured Not So Little Anymore Duck was going to strip as slowly as possible to drive him even more wild, but she had just the opposite idea. She lifted the hem to reveal nothing underneath but wispy yellow hair and bulging pink lips, having avoided panties tonight for just this reason. She straddled him with the bottom of the dress still in one hand, and sank onto him, split yet made whole.

There was no way she could avoid a bra, though, and she hefted one globe out of its cup to present to Rory’s hungry eyes. He caressed the soft mound in his strong yet gentle hands, and sucked on it like the young woman it belonged to was all he wanted, which they both knew was true.

Once her bouncing coalesced into waves of pleasure, she removed what remained of her clothing, getting under the covers and under Rory. Morning wasn’t the only thing that came, but it was a bittersweet dawn. The first time they literally slept with each other would be the last. They awoke safely in each others’ embrace, Prim’s golden locks brushing up against Rory’s olive chest, and it was one of the best feelings they had found together.

 

Even Effie wasn’t her usual cheerful self as she told the two to get out of bed. Haymitch managed to render himself upright at this hour if only to go get large glasses of icewater. “Bathe – knowing you two, that’s a group activity,” their mentor wisecracked. “And eat a lot. Chances to do that in the arena don’t come easy. Also, stay away from the Cornucopia. You really did get enough sponsors for me to supply you without it,” Haymitch advised. A bloodbath in the opening minutes was a terrifyingly consistent part of the Games, yet tributes who survived that slaughter had their pick of Cornucopia resources that would help them live through the rest of the Games.

 

            Rory and Prim ignored the words of drunken smart-aleck Haymitch, not turning shower time into sexy time. They recognized the need to focus on the grim task ahead, too nervous to enjoy it and not wanting to detract from their memories of last night. Yet they knew there was more to Abernathy; they wouldn’t dare ignore tactician Haymitch.

 

            Rory had one last thing to say to Prim before they went down their separate hallways beneath the arena. “Little Duck, I had known for a while that we’d be spending the rest of our lives together, but I had no idea it would end like this.”


	18. Bloodless Victory

            Little Duck had her down covering, and wore it untucked in the back. The arena outfits were very heavy.

One would think this would mean appropriate clothing for cold weather, but being aware of the Gamemakers’ sick minds, it could be inappropriate apparel for warm weather.

            Although you couldn’t add non-existent clothing, you could remove extra layers. Maybe that would be the idea of dressing tributes too warm for the arena, to get them to strip. Besides ogling what the tributes meant only for themselves and their lovers, it would force a tactical choice between sweating under heavy armor or leaving oneself more vulnerable to opposing tributes’ weapons.

One year they gave tributes threadbare clothing for a brutal winter arena. District Twelve hadn’t found that entertaining, but rather a grim reminder of life and a common reason for the end thereof. The Capitol was not entertained either – after all, they were infected with bloodlust, not a desire to observe hypothermia symptoms.

           

            The clothes were black and red, District Twelve colors, which indicated that the other tributes were also color-coded. The outer shell of the jacket was made of dyed cotton. Anyone with any skill in the woods knew wet cotton in the cold was no good, but the inside was made of some different smoother material. The gloves were a lighter green, but just as puffed-up and cozy. The shirt and pants were thinner but still warm. This would be useful identification for other tributes as well as the audience. Whether it was camouflage or the opposite thereof depended on the environment. The boots were hard tan leather – they would help tramp through muck on the ground as well as insulate the wearers’ feet. _You knew it was too cold when the wind blew through your shoes._

Rory figured that the District Eight factory workers who had to make this stuff never got to wear anything so nice themselves. _Gale would have thought the same but with more profanity_ , Rory thought. The older Hawthorne boy probably would be of that opinion once he saw the clothes in action.

 

            The rising platforms revealed a winter wasteland. The outfits seemed even more brightly colored compared to the snow and ice. As usual, the tributes were in a circle around the Cornucopia for sixty seconds until the Games actually started. _Where was the other tribute wearing black with red stripes?_ District partners often tried to find each other in the arena, none more so than these two. Rory and Prim were on opposite sides of the circle, both far away from either the tip or the mouth of the horn.

Electrum was a couple platforms to Prim’s left – people nearly seven feet tall were hard to miss even when they weren’t wearing pink accented with purple stripes up and down the sides. _I bet the tough guy isn’t amused with the Capitol’s fashion sense, especially after the opinion he seemed to give of it during the Tribute Parade_ , Prim though. She and Rory had already expected to run in the same direction – apparently they would both be heading to her right.

 

            Rory and Prim managed to ignore the twin bows sitting in the mouth of the Cornucopia. They had transparently been placed there as bait for the District Twelve pair, but as hunters who had worked many snares, they knew bait was often too good to be true. They quickly got even further from the place that was turning into a scene of slaughter.

 

            Prim found a first-aid kit on the outskirts of the supply pile – the Gamemakers probably figured people would go after things that cause injuries rather than things that treat them. If anyone in the arena deserved it because they knew what to do with it, that person was her. Prim had listened to trainers lament tributes ignoring survival-skills stations, which included not noticing other tributes’ skills at them. Tributes sometimes took weapons just to deny them to an opponent who was good with them, a strategy which would also make sense for other supplies.

            The kit had surprisingly good contents. There were all sorts of bandages and even some packages of an emergency blood clotter. It had scissors, for cutting bandages or removing clothing from an injured area, but they could also be put to nonmedical use. There were also tweezers, antiseptics, painkillers, and some topical creams for particular symptoms.

 

            All Rory found was a rope and an empty metal bottle. The container would be great for melting water. Trying to eat the snow or ice as-is would make their bodies even colder, one of the many things they couldn’t afford in the arena environment. Also, it could be as impure as any other water.

 

            Yet they found what they most wanted to in the arena – each other. Their joy at reuniting was beautifully natural, nothing artificial to amuse the Capitol. Their feelings would be clear even to the dolts in the big city. However, the District Twelve tributes were concerned about how much they stood out in dark clothes – Little Duck was a sitting duck. District Two grays were probably best-suited to this situation, but none of the tributes would really blend in.

 

“No playing, Prim, but we can still build things out of snow to hide behind,” Rory suggested. As they started piling up snow, they heard the chime indicating their first sponsor gift, and Rory opened the silver container to reveal a long knife.

He started testing it against their nascent snowbank, and almost absentmindedly carved out a block. He carried it over to an area of the snowfield that had already been compressed by them walking around. Prim had started to shape another one and they decided to build in a circle – that would provide the most space with the same amount of snow, or require less snow for the same amount of space. “Whoever makes it back should tell Mr. Holden about that applied math,” Prim suggested.

“A good idea except for the circumstances it came up in,” Rory pointed out.

Rory had been doing some digging, but mostly he finished, carried and put down blocks that Prim was making. As he returned for another one, she said “I hit ground”. She was a couple feet deep, and what she actually revealed was a woodpile. “Seems like it’s been dead for awhile,” she observed.

“Good. Green timber would be even harder to light in this weather,” Rory pointed out.

“Some sticks towards the bottom of the pile feel a little drier,” Prim researched. “Let’s leave them where they are until we have a better place to put them,” she suggested. They were working on that place, putting the next layers of bricks to the inside to make a roof as well as a wall. Now they had to work together to put the bricks in place, one working from the outside and the other on the inside.

 

They heard two more chimes heralding parachutes with gifts attached. Rory lifted his long legs over the walls of the growing structure to go get one of them, finding matches inside the silver container. Prim retrieved the other, and she found a bagful of small rectangular loaves of bread. They were dark and smooth – not the fancy stuff the Mellark boys made in town, but not the trash Seam folks had to make with rough tesserae grain either. Prim handed Rory one, and he shoved it into his mouth. _Oh, what Effie would think – she expected even starving people to eat as daintily as those who could afford to care about such things_ , Prim thought. _This wouldn’t be the first time he had deliberately provoked Ms. Trinket on it_ , she added, but she ate her own piece like the lady she was.

 

They needed food – so much game was dead or concealed in the winter, not to mention plants the game ate or that the people could eat directly. Tributes might not freeze in this year’s clothes, but many would starve. Perhaps the other tributes were looking for food instead of for their competition. Yet Rory and Prim knew darn well Haymitch meant more than food, and they figured the people back home in District Twelve could see it too – he was suggesting a toasting.

Rory revealed to Prim his newly acquired box of matches. “Will you?” he said, smiling. _The Capitol and the other eleven districts simply heard ‘start a fire’. District Twelve heard ‘marry me’._

“Yes,” Prim said, barely containing her excitement as she went off to grab some of the relatively dry sticks. People might think the fiancée was simply glad to be warm and full soon. She also grabbed something from her first-aid kit. The cloth soaked in rubbing alcohol was intended as a disinfectant, but it could just as surely be lit on fire.

Those flames caught smaller twigs which caught larger twigs, and soon enough they had heat to crisp the bread and melt more snow; their body heat had only been doing so much to liquefy the contents of Rory’s container.

They looked at each other and mouthed “I will honor and cherish the one I’ve chosen, throughout all the highs and lows this life presents us with”, before taking the warm bread into their mouths.

“Damn shame this lifetime commitment can’t mean as much as it should,” Rory whispered, and in this weather, their tears froze.

 

They wondered how bittersweet it must’ve been back at home, particularly with the other Miss Everdeen made into a Mrs. Hawthorne. They didn’t have to guess at what Haymitch thought of their little pseudo-wedding. He made it clear what his opinion was, sending a lot of food raining down on his tributes. They started eating blocks of cheese right out of the packets, but figured they’d cook the beef discs later. They certainly didn’t need to worry about refrigeration in this weather, but they were concerned about finishing their shelter in broad daylight.

 

As the hole in the top narrowed, they made another brick that fit it just right. Prim was on the outside, and knelt down to start packing loose snow into cracks between bricks. Rory was still on the inside, and reached up to cut a little hole in the side for air. He decided to not cut a door into the side. “I don’t want to damage this beautiful thing I’m building with my beautiful bride,” he explained softly. Prim giggled, but then levelheadedly pointed out that it would also defeat the purpose of blocking wind and blocking other tributes’ line of sight.

Rory started tunneling out, and smiled when he emerged right in Prim’s face. Together they buried what remained of their little toasting fire while passing Rory’s water bottle back and forth. They also covered the woodpile at the bottom of the hole that had yielded the snow for their shelter.

 

The Capitol showed the pictures and names of the fourteen it had taken that day. Rory remembered twelve cannons as the bloodbath faded, the sound of youth negated, meaning two more hadn’t been able to hide like he and Prim had. District Eleven wouldn’t have the odds in its favor two years in a row. Three, Five, Six, Nine and Ten were also denied victors yet again. The District Seven boy had escaped early death for now, proving that his abysmally low training score was at least somewhat of a lie. District Eight was also hanging by a thread with only one tribute remaining.

 

Rory handed Prim a lot of their new supplies to hide in the snow dome. There was a bit of a shelf between the wall and the hole Rory had dug. Prim started to put things there. They’d have plenty of space to sleep together on the other side. They’d have plenty of need to, even though they had avoided the day’s fighting. Inside, bundled up and pressed against each other, they were hardly that cold at all, although they wouldn’t want to be sleeping directly on the snow for much longer. In the morning, Little Duck realized something that was not little at all. “Rory?” Prim said to catch his attention before leaning in to whisper. “I actually am pregnant.”


	19. Hometown Heroes

            Rory had unwittingly told the truth about getting the mother of his child back home. His wife. Most people in District Twelve, especially the two of them, had known he was going to call her that one day. How many years had they known that? Knowing that so well, they hadn’t been inclined to wait anyway.

 

The Capitol was taking Rory and Prim away from each other, but the District Twelve lovebirds had refused to let Panem take their wedding day away from them. Yet now the husband and wife below marriageable age had to take away eight children just as innocent as they were, or wait for someone else to do it.

 

As an aspiring healer, Prim knew some ways to help people that could be turned around in order to hurt them. This would be especially painful for her since it would require her to act like the very opposite of who she really was. _I’ll be sending my girl home, but not the same girl who went in_ , Rory thought bitterly. _It’s worse than making miners put rocks back, because this is work she actually cares about._

 

“A lot of people worry about getting their throats cut, and guard against that, but there’s an artery in the front and middle of the hip that would bleed out just as quickly,” she explained. _That’s not the way I want to see Prim touch her inner thigh_ , he thought as she pointed it out.

 

They were as warm and safe as they could be in this cold and dangerous place. Their day of building a shelter which camouflaged itself had paid off.

 

Well, Prim needed to eat for two now. That being said, Haymitch had sent down plenty of food for three. Granted, any amount of food by Capitol standards seemed like plenty by District Twelve standards.

 

Prim ate a whole package of cheese right out of the wrapper like how she had seen people eat candy bars. She figured raw or undercooked meat like those beef discs would be especially unhealthy for her right now.

 

It wouldn’t be particularly good for Rory either, so he started as much of a fire as he was willing to risk inside the highly meltable shelter. It reminded him of one thing that made the winters in District Twelve even worse; Seam folks couldn’t risk burning down their flimsy little shacks. Here, they could patch the holes, and maybe a bit of melting and refreezing would make it work even better. Smoke went out their vent hole in the side, but it seemed to blend in with the wind and flurries.

 

Soon the meat was resembling a color besides red. Rory had thawed out some of the remaining bread by placing it next to the fire, and bit down on the sandwich. With grease running down his fingers, he heard a chime indicating a sponsor gift and scurried out of the shelter, long knife still in hand.

 

It was for Primrose, a small bottle labeled _Field Baby Products Pregnancy Vitamins_. “Good, because there’s no way we’d find just the right nutrients for me in the arena,” she said as she opened the container and swallowed one. Even though they had opened the silver container out-of-sight, the Games broadcasters always explained what a sponsor gift was as it was sailing down. This would be a vivid reminder of their painfully tragic situation. Haymitch, for his part, had been given lemons, made lemonade and probably enhanced the lemonade with liquor.

 

“Little Duck, we need more wood,” Rory observed. Prim got up to follow him out of the shelter. He stayed in front, hands nervously gripping the long knife, hoping to delay the necessity of getting blood on it.

 

Well, they’d have to put off even restocking on fire fuel. It looked like several other tributes were coming their way. Prim headed back into the shelter while Rory tried to literally cover their tracks. Once that was done, he looked out the entrance with a hand still on the knife.

 

The whole of the Career pack was chasing the other two non-Careers, the boys from Seven and Eight. Rory saw the group approach his snow mine turned woodpile.

 

One of the girls didn’t see it, and tumbled headfirst into the hole. The boy from Seven doubled back around the far side and swung down. The cannon confirmed he landed a bloody blow. The boy from Four couldn’t catch him, but desire to indicated that his district partner was the girl who had fallen in more ways than one. However, Needle was slower than Douglas, and Reed seemed to positively enjoy finding another target for his spear. _Careers seemed to think the Games were just a game until_ they _were the ones dying,_ Rory thought. _It was always just a game to the Capitol though._

 

Rory looked back at his wife. While the odds were profoundly against anyone in this situation, things had been relatively in their favor so far. They had been able to avoid detection so far, and even with the snow mine found, it seemed a trap laid by Douglas rather than a source of supplies for the District Twelve pair.

 

“Rory! We’re final eight!” Prim announced. Rory hadn’t noticed this, being too occupied with observing the fate of those who were apparently ten and nine, but remembering the fourteen from yesterday, Little Duck was right.

 

As if on cue, Claudius Templesmith’s legendary voice rang out from the skies. “Attention tributes! Now that we’ve reached the final eight, I have a special announcement for this special stage of the Games. If the final two are from the same district, they win the Games together.”

 

This time it was tears of joy that froze on their faces. “You really are special, Little Duck,” Rory whispered chivalrously. But so was he. So were they.    The finality of seeing them torn apart could shock even the most jaded audience members into seeing the ugly truth of the Games in particular and the Capitol generally. The rulers of Panem needed to avoid that, but this showed they were vulnerable to pressure from the people they ruled after all.

 

_The Home Front_

 

Gale would undoubtedly hope that Panem could learn that lesson more dramatically. Even someone like him couldn’t have dared to have such dreams before today. He wouldn’t just be overjoyed to stand a chance at getting his brother back, the beloved of his beloved’s beloved, he would be even angrier than usual that there had been, and was still, a risk of losing them in the first place.

 

Amongst other things, this stage of the Games usually meant interviewing people close to the surviving tributes.

 

The offer Templesmith delivered applied just as surely to the pairs from One and Two. These tributes weren’t relatives, but the Career districts expected to get another especially close pair like Gloss and Cashmere or Patrick and Mary. When the cameras visited, that confidence clearly came across.

 

The boys from Four and Seven fought on alone, but they showed no signs of giving up in order to have two others win. A mix of sadness, anger and hope was palpable in the voice of Douglas’ (and Logroll’s) father Spruce, and while his reasons were unique, he was hardly the only person in Panem going through those emotions.

 

Posy, though, was her usual excitable little girl self. Gale hoped his sister remained as positive as his sister-in-law, that his sister-in-law remained at all. “They had a married!” Posy announced to the interviewer. Hazelle was oh so happy to explain what the toasting was. Posy was sure she was getting her other big brother and big sister back, and Hazelle was happy to not explain the risk they were still under.

 

            Ingrid seized on Prim’s expertise with the first-aid kit. “The girl learned a lot of that stuff from her momma,” she said cheerfully. “Proudest moment of my medical career since I midwifed my grandbabies. Our two tributes actually share that niece and nephew – Prim’s older sister Katniss is married to Rory’s older brother Gale. Apparently, loving Hawthorne boys runs in the family, and I’m overjoyed to see that family get bigger.”


	20. Hemhorragic Triumph

Yesterday brought hope that two tributes would unexpectedly go home together, just like what had purposely happened in the 75th Games. There, the Career districts added to their glories. That may well happen again, or District Twelve might get its first victors in 27 years, as many in one year as it had over 76. Today brought the possibility that those hopes would be definitely answered, either dashed or confirmed.

 

            Around dawn, Douglas Sawyer realized it was as safe as it was going to get to approach the Careers’ massive fire. He didn’t know where they’d gotten the wood for it. They wouldn’t have been foolish enough to fall into their own hole. If Douglas underestimated the Careers as brutal idiots, he’d be the foolish one. They had underestimated him as a weakling and had started to pay the price as he revealed his true colors.

 

The excavated woodpile most be how the lovebirds from Twelve were fending off the cold. He’d head back there next and find them.

 

Rory’s girlfriend was literally by his side. Like Electrum, Douglas had a lover who was already a Victor. He certainly had the boldness to ask such a unique woman to become his wife and to impress her into actually doing so. Now he needed to show he had the fortitude to finish the grim task before him.

 

            Douglas tiptoed forward to see Reed keeping watch. With a silent blade to the District Four boy’s throat, Douglas made himself the only unpaired tribute left. He had killed the person who’d killed his district partner on his way to joining the young man who had truly left him unpaired three summers ago.

 

            District Two grays blended in relatively well with the snow, especially when it wasn’t fresh. District One blended in with nothing except an explosion at a dyed paper mill. Douglas added deep red to that as his axe landed squarely on Isabelle’s neck. Electrum rolled in his sleep, only losing a bit of his hair as he regained consciousness. He had a spear staked in the ground at his bedside, and Douglas simply couldn’t dodge its massive reach. The last thing he felt was the searing pain of it pushing back out through him.

 

A fitfully watchful Rory was made fully alert by the three cannons in close succession. He roused Prim, who looked angelic even now. “The Career alliance wouldn’t have fallen apart with us and Douglas still out there,” Prim analyzed.

“So they probably ran into him, and I don’t think they would have let him get away again,” Rory figured. “Well, he took two of them down with him.”

“We’ll be relatively warm and rested waiting here,” Prim suggested. Rory and Prim had turned their hunters’ senses around to avoid being prey, and that had brought them this far, but they knew a final showdown couldn’t be avoided for much longer.

 

            Back in what remained of the Career camp, Cleopatra of District Two made an angry declaration. “I don’t care if she’s knocked up; I’ll rip her throat out!” She was taking the place of someone else who was in that condition. While Cleopatra had technically volunteered for a random little girl, everyone knew she had taken the place of a specific growing woman.

            “You got it, Cleo,” her district partner said nervously.

            “Hey, Pliny, it might be us going home instead of Shorty and Tiny,” she shot back.

            “Yeah, Rory and Primrose are small compared to me and Sapph,” Electrum said, confirming the nicknames, “but I’m getting out of here even without Isabelle.”

            “ _Suuurrre_ ,” Cleopatra drawled.

 

            “This thing is gonna end tonight, ah can feel it in mah bones,” Electrum said in a humorous affectation of an old man.

            “What you can feel is this fucking cold!” Pliny countered.

            “Yeah, but the odds are in you boys’ favor to have built-in scarves,” Cleopatra added, pointing to their few days’ worth of beard. Also, these particular boys preferred weapons that did not depend so much on a good grip the way her throwing knives did. She felt relatively clumsy with her hands inside the necessary heavy gloves.

            “Well, we aren’t going to get ambushed again, let’s go find them,” Electrum said as he led the bundled-up and well-armed group to trample through yet more snow. They tracked back towards that hole, knowing better than to fall into it this time.

 

            “Prim, Mom always told me to not throw rocky, icy snowballs at Gale and Vick, but I don’t think she would mind if we threw them at Careers,” Rory pointed out.

            “It’ll confuse them at least,” Prim agreed, as she began to pack up some of the particularly dense snow near their base, embedding some of their heavier trash in it. Maybe this would even encourage Haymitch to send them a regular weapon for her. However, sponsor gifts came dear at this stage of the Games, even for tributes as popular as them, especially considering the amount of sponsorship necessary for survival supplies in such an environment.

 

            The Careers overshot the hole in which they’d lost one of their own and considered it a happy accident. “The lovebirds gotta be hiding in that thing!” Cleo thought of the snow dome as she began to look for an entrance. Pliny drew his two-foot sword to begin hacking at the thing.

 

Yet its occupants certainly had the honed instincts to hear them coming. Rory laid down in the tunnel to guard the entrance, springing up to plunge his knife into Cleo’s heart. _Gale would be proud of that trap_ , Rory thought.

 

Pliny heard the cannon. Through his breach, he saw both of the District Twelve tributes moving. Yet he turned around and repositioned his sword. Electrum saw his ally become a threat, and ran someone else through with a spear.

 

Prim distracted the one remaining Career by tossing debris at him, severely stinging an already freezing face. Electrum’s spear thrust aimed square at Rory went low, cutting his right thigh but not landing a killing blow. Rory was dripping blood and seemed to be losing his footing, but could still stand to fight. He swung his knife in a wide arc, hoping to stay as far away from Electrum’s spear as he could. He tore his existing wound open further as he cut a similar spot on his target.

 

Claudius heralded victory, yet when seconds counted, the surgical team seemed minutes away. The way Rory was bleeding out, Prim feared she might leave the arena alone after all, but this was a fear she knew how to face. He was lying down with his leg resting on a food container, but elevating this wound was only going to do so much. Reaching for her first aid kit, the packets of clotting powder didn’t seem to be enough and most of the bandages were more suited to smaller wounds. She had to get lots of cloth from somewhere, so she pulled her shirt off and put the jacket back on over bare skin. She rolled the shirt into a cloth strip, wrapped it around Rory’s thigh, and tied it to a stout stick they had long since retrieved from the woodpile. She frantically twisted the stick to pull the contraption tight.

 

After what seemed like ages, a hovercraft landed and two burly medics descended the ramp to pull the wounded victor into what was surely a fully prepared operating room. Prim walked up the ramp herself, and once she saw the room, it may well have been a fantasy compared to the dingy, ill-supplied setting she and her mother were used to working in.

 

“Captain James Morgan MD, Peacekeeper Medical Corps,” the head surgeon introduced himself. Girl, it’s clear you know your stuff.” After a short time with a furrowed brow that did look familiar to Prim, he continued. “It looks like we’ll have to take the leg,” Dr. Morgan explained, “but the Capitol has only the best in prosthetics for its Victors, and without what you did for him, his injuries could have been even more severe even if he made it. Daniels, ready the knockout gas.”

 

            “Hey, as long as the thing between ‘em still works,” Rory said as he was about to go under, getting laughs from the whole crew. “Never have I been so glad to see a Peacekeeper. I knew Prim was here with me and always will be.”


	21. Messages From Your Sponsors

_That’s Pain_

 

            Rory winced. “These do take some getting used to,” Dr. Morgan admitted. “Even as you do, it may well take some extra effort to move. It is always harder when we have to take a leg above the knee or an arm above the elbow. Now, the computer chips and motors in this thing do their best to imitate the joint. The oddest thing is that sometimes you have pain in the limb you don’t have any more.”

 

            His artificial leg did its best to look like a real one, being covered with fake skin instead of exposing the mechanical parts. Yet Rory thought that part of him looked as pale as a Townie. “We don’t have many rich darker-skinned people,” a doctor pointed out, “so while that might not make sense, given that, no wonder they make only a light version of this.”

 

            “Hey, can I still kick my little brother’s ass with this?” Rory wondered.

            “I wouldn’t,” a nurse said.

            “Yes, _Mom_ ,” Rory answered. They had taken his leg, not his sense of humor.

 

            Haymitch walked in and jokingly shooed out Prim. “I think these hospital beds have maximum capacity one.” Her love was clear enough, but also her fascination with the medical technology, a point she had already belabored with any and all employees.

            “Yes, but I almost love him even more now. I didn’t fall in love with a leg, I fell in love with the kind of boy who would do such things for me. I thought we were already so close, but it feels like you can’t be even closer than sharing an arena,” Prim said.

            “I’ll drink to that!” Haymitch said.

 

Once Everdeen left, Abernathy continued. “Mr. Hawthorne, and now for some messages from your sponsors,” Haymitch told Rory. “I think this one has to do with the future Mrs. Hawthorne,” Abernathy explained, introducing a Capitol businessman.

 

            “Love is my business, and business is good. Kendrick Macmillan, Macmillan Jewelers,” the man introduced himself. “I knew darn well you and Miss Everdeen would be getting married if you made it out together,” he observed.

Rory kept his mouth shut about the toasting, thinking he’d save that story for Caesar. He answered Kendrick with “You got that right”.

“I am of the opinion that beautiful people should have beautiful things, especially when I did well betting on them,” Kendrick said has he handed Rory two boxes. _I don’t want to know how much these cost, and I’ve had more trouble haggling over squirrel_ , Rory thought. But the man was right – the rings were beautiful. One was a band of black stone with swirls in it. The other one was five hearts of a pale golden color around a green crystal. Rory realized that Prim was to wear a model of the flower she was named after, and he found this quite clever.

 

He leaned in to whisper “Damn shame Mr. Goldman and Mr. Sawyer couldn’t join you,” showing similarly customized rings for their beloveds Sapphire and Johanna. Taken literally, he was a craftsman showing off his products – a silvery ring etched with a swordlike pattern and stuck with a blue stone, another with an axe drawn into it and a brown crystal on it. However, Rory read between the lines to see that a Capitolite was saying _Fuck the Games. I cared about the tributes – some of them, at least._

 

“That went well?” Haymitch asked, and Rory conveyed a lot with a simple nod.

 

Rory was recovering from a severe physical injury, but he and Prim still had the big victor interview with Caesar in a few days. As one of the doctors was wheeling him around, he had a suggestion. “I’d like to see you enter the auditorium under your own power, even with a walking stick,” she said, presenting a polished staff made of a light shade of wood.

 

_That’s Love_

 

            “The victors of the 77th Annual Hunger Games, Primrose Everdeen and Rory Hawthorne!” Claudius boomed as screens continued to replay key moments of the recent Games, events the survivors would rather not repeat any more than their minds already were doing.

 

            Rory was able to creep forward with the stick in his left hand, to shift as much weight as possible to his natural leg. “I feel like old man Frayer with this thing,” Rory muttered, but the mics picked it up. “Runs a general store back home. One of the mundane aspects of the district I thought I’d never see again.”

 

            “Well, as far as that home is concerned, we’re already married. The ritual where we make a fire and toast together, the words we mouthed, is what District Twelve cares about,” Prim explained.

            “There did seem to be more than a meal to that,” Caesar said appreciatively.

            “He reiterated that he’d love me ‘till the end, apparently that’s a few decades further off than we thought at the time, more than we could have dared hope for.”

 

            “And here are some of our early wedding gifts,” Rory said as he got out the jeweler’s boxes. “A beautiful flower for a beautiful lady named after it,” he added as he slipped that on and then his own. “Most weddings wouldn’t be so concerned with how the groom walks down the aisle,” he added.

 

            “You were entirely willing to die to save her and your child…” Caesar began.

            “Absolutely,” Rory said simply, his eyes burning with the intensity of a coal fire.

            “I think I can speak for most of this audience when I say I’m relieved we didn’t have to see you do that,” Caesar continued. The hordes of Capitolites who loudly took to their feet confirmed his intuition was correct. Undoubtedly many watching on screens felt the same.

 

            “I wish we could all have a love like that,” Caesar said as the cheers began to quiet down.

            “My older brother does. Her older sister. We Hawthornes and Everdeens were already quite a family,” Rory said happily.

            “Hear that, Claude? Doesn’t that make you feel bad about being on your fourth trophy wife?” Caesar jokingly insulted while looking at the broadcast booth.

            “Ah, can it, Flickerman,” Templesmith shot back with equal humor.

 

            “She’s such a nurturing, caring person. Amongst other things, that predicts a wonderful mother. It’s beautiful to see her with our niece and nephew; I can’t imagine how amazing it will be to see her with our own child,” Rory said, and none swooned harder than Prim herself.

 

_I Was Wrong_

 

District Twelve had long since erupted into celebrations that were wild by their standards, but something but a damper on Ingrid’s mood. Mrs. Everdeen knew the woman approaching her all too well. “Sarah Kolster. Funny my so-called mother should show up now after more than twenty-two years when we could have really used your help,” she spat.

“I admit I picked a good time to tire of that. I know you missed far more from me than I did from you. I could have had wonderful granddaughters if I could have accepted how happy my daughter had been,” Sarah said, and Ingrid felt like listening.

            “They say girls often marry men like their fathers, and if this is the kind of boy Rory is already…Jacob must have also been more than I thought,” Sarah continued.

            “He sure had been!” Ingrid reminded her mother. “I don’t forget easily, and Katniss doesn’t either. Yet it seems darling Primrose is so good at the family business that she’s begun to mend your heart.”


	22. Hometown Heroes Part II

            Pretty much the whole of District Twelve was lined up at the train station, especially considering Sarah Kolster’s change of heart. Although that had come over two decades too late, it _had_ finally happened. Mrs. K was hardly the only Townie to have Rory get it through their heads what Seam folks already knew, that the olive-skinned men were hardly rats.

 

            The cheers were deafening, as if the objects of adulation hadn’t been injured enough. One shout rang out above the din, Ingrid yelling “my baby!” Prim jumped down to land in front of her mother with the agility of the cats Little Duck loved so much. _Rory was certainly in no shape for such a move_ , Prim thought of her de facto husband. “And her baby,” Ingrid added, rubbing the belly that was soon to grow.

 

            “You’re being so good to Prim – I’m proud of you, Little Man. I expected no less, I just didn’t expect it so soon,” Gale said. He realized that the sudden start of his brother’s family had gotten either or both of them home.

 

            “Rory, I’m Williams from the medical detachment,” a Peacekeeper explained. “Cray assigned men to keep an eye on your leg.” Which he wouldn’t be able to do in the Hob. Most of the Capitol medics were amongst the somewhat by the book Peacekeepers who stayed away from the black market activity.

 

“Never thought I’d get nationwide advertising,” Alex Frayer complimented, indeed leaning on his walking stick, rougher than Rory’s because it was used essentially as-is after being harvested from the woods. Gale had thought it was too good to be used as firewood after all, and had managed to get a couple coins out of the old man for it. “Least of all I could do for you is some free toys. Including for babies. Congratulations.”

Rory thought of some already-living little kids, and got Sage and Jacob a small table and chairs that had activities about colors and shapes in the top of it. Apparently Field Baby Products made toys for them as well as medicine for their mothers. _Get life off to a good start_ , the same message read. Frayer also stocked amusements for 14 year olds. Vick’s birthday present was a set of metal parts he could build things out of.

 

            “Vick, you’re lucky…,” Rory began.

            “Because I got my second-favorite older brother back?” the youngest Hawthorne boy joked.

            “Because I was specifically told to not kick your ass with my new leg,” Rory explained.

            “You’re all my favoritest brothers!” Posy said. She had always been somewhat like this, and could do with even more of Prim’s positive outlook rubbing off on her. Prim liked being the _big_ sister for a change. Posy had been crestfallen when Gale moved out upon marrying Katniss. One of the things that made her especially happy lately is that they’d all be living together at 3 Victors Village.

 

            The Hawthornes and Everdeens didn’t have much to move, and had packed what little they owned in the few days between when their children won and when they actually got them back. “I’ve got our most precious cargo,” Gale said as he picked up the twins.

            “Daddy ride!” Sage said, and Jacob clapped his little hands.

 

Prim was at best unsure about having her grandparents in her life, let alone in her house, and in any event it was a victor’s prerogative which close relatives to invite. Sarah had been the driving force behind the shunning that had hurt the new Everdeen family so, but Charles had gone along with it. Their other daughter Priscilla was nearly as disagreeable as Mrs. Mellark, another Priscilla. There were good reasons the Priscillas were unwanted, and the way Mellark treated her son Peeta was one of them. Prim thought it was so sad what happened to the baker’s boy, even though Gale was a much closer match for her beloved big sister.

 

            It wasn’t just nice compared to Gale and Katniss’ relatively good shack, it was luxurious compared to what Mrs. Everdeen remembered from town, and what the poachers had seen doing business at the mayor’s house. Not only that, it was larger, more than enough for even two large families.

 

            “Prim, are you actually pregnant?” Ingrid wondered, hoping she was indeed getting a third grandbaby.

            “You figured out I wasn’t really late yet then, didn’t you?” Prim realized.

            “So did Katniss,” Ingrid pointed out.

            “It was Rory’s idea,” Prim explained, “then it looked like it was for real, and I figured it was by the first day in the arena.”

 

“I guess that’s likely to happen when I have such a wonderful boy making love to me all the time,” Prim went on.

            “Speaking of which…” Rory hinted blatantly, his body language just as clear as his words. It was similarly obvious that Prim very much approved of the idea. His mother-in-law rolled her eyes, but she was happy for her daughters and the wonderful men they’d found, knowing that this was the attitude that would get her all those grandbabies. Besides, it was he and his wife that would really be rolling their eyes soon.

            Rory and Prim figured that since they might as well be married, they might as well share a bed. They walked together to the room they had already picked out. Rory lifted the hem of Prim’s shirt and said “Why, Primrose, it seems your stomach is still not clean!” in the same imitation of a Capitol accent he had used on a train. They’d been through hell, but the painful memories seemed blunted by the happy memories they had created by doing it together.

            “We don’t need to pretend anymore; you can lick me as much as you want, but go higher or lower,” she said raggedly. Rory answered silently by lifting her shirt further, and Prim did indeed find thoroughly cleaned mammaries more appealing than a similarly polished midriff. “You’re right, your penis definitely still works, and you already know how to work it.”

            It was now Rory’s turn to get out sexy words through heavy breath. “One of the greatest sights in the world is watching your hole envelop my pole,” he announced as she climbed on top of him and started screaming. “No worries, our neighbor already knows my name,” Rory joked, the shouts music to his ears. They laid down after getting laid and Rory made an observation. “These blankets are even softer than your beautiful breasts”.

“But no fabric feels as warm as you do,” Prim said.

 

However the cloth compared to their bodies, it was especially striking to people used to shivering through Seam nights. That brought the lovebirds’ attention back to the home they could barely forget.

It still felt odd to be some of the better off in the district and maybe always would, but they were relieved that they had the time and some more medical supplies with which to aid the District Twelve masses. Prim found it bittersweet to regale her mother with tales of Capitol medicine. This reminded them of what District Twelve didn’t have, even the parts that did have money. “What a shame, when women can’t afford to have healthy babies and can’t afford to keep them that way,” Ingrid ranted. “Though your father always took care of his family and often wanted nothing else, don’t let anybody tell you different.”

 

Vick screwed together a bridge with his construction kit, connecting several colored plates on the bottom and putting metal beams in a triangle pattern on each side, with further beams to hold together each wall of triangles. He even built a tower and a shed to go on one side of it. Apparently some young Town men loved those kits too, and they had grown up to build things for real in their family’s construction business. “My twin sisters think you’re cute. I think you’re too young for them,” Roadrunner Castle explained as he built with Vick.

 

Rory and Prim were hometown heroes for their story but also for very practical reasons. Every month for a year after a Games, the victor’s district got extra resource distributions. Parcel Day was literally fending off hunger and starvation for many. Victor winnings were also handed out on the first of the month, and while they saw Haymitch often in Victors Village, they always saw him then. “Make no mistake, Twelve needed this,” Haymitch said. “I feared last year’s Games would be different. I hope this year will be different.”


	23. The Tree Of Liberty

            “We were at the mercy of the odds last year. This year, we’re going to make them be in our favor,” Haymitch said, a tantalizing promise. Now that they were away from the main part of the district and not yet back to Victors Village, Haymitch was able to expand on the hopeful comments he had made in town. “District Thirteen wasn’t really destroyed in the first rebellion. They hate the Capitol like the other twelve do and have been setting up a second rebellion for quite some time now.”

            “How do you know what they’re up to?” Rory asked.

            “A major part of their plans is to work with the victors,” Haymitch explained. “Supposedly we have most benefitted from Capitol rule, at least amongst people of the Districts, yet we have most suffered at their hands.”

            He was indeed talking to people who very much understood. “Such a strong young man as my Rory walking around with a cane and writhing in pain!” Prim raged indignantly.

            “Our injuries physical and mental, yes,” Haymitch agreed. “But also that we’re very visible if people are seeing the right things. You two had the best luck in getting that point across, not just an especially good show.”

 

            There wasn’t much the Hawthornes or Everdeens had to do, being able to live off victor winnings. This was alien to them after a life of scraping together food and money. They were nevertheless quite able to occupy themselves.

 

            They still took to the woods. It was second nature to them. It had long since become about more than just the food. The few hunters and foragers reveled in the solitude and the natural environment. However, Rory didn’t trust himself with his new leg on the rough terrain, especially with the need to run and hide, especially with snow coming. That was one of the things that hurt him most about his injury.

 

            The children still went to school, including the victors. “Miss Everdeen, you are not Mrs. Hawthorne yet, so please put the proper name on your papers,” a teacher scolded Prim. More than a few girls jokingly or wishfully referred to themselves as Mrs. Crushname, but for Little Duck, it was a serious reality.

 

            Her belly was not so little anymore. Prim was also somewhat unique amongst those in that situation. The Hawthornes and Everdeens could afford to give each the attention they deserved, which made it all the more cruelly ironic that many victors were deprived of family life.

 

            Recent Hunger Games winners had to show off a Talent unrelated to their district’s industry. Rory thought of his younger brother’s building toys. Rory built a whole train to go with Vick’s bridge – pieces from different sets still fit together, and some Buildwell Metal sets had real moving parts. “No, Jacob, these are Uncle Rory’s gears,” he pointed out as the baby ran into the room.

“There he is!” Katniss called out. “I’ll take him back to his own,” the frazzled mother added, referring to the small row of large colored knobs that was part of the baby table.

 

Prim had taken to learning even more about the medicinal plants in the area, or at least recording what she already knew. There wasn’t much in the meadow inside the fence, and she wanted to plant some taken from out in the woods, but that would have to wait for spring.

 

Gale was as cheerful as he’d ever been, being able to spend most of his time indoors in his children’s nursery. His mood had improved even before he heard that his dreams of rebellion were becoming a reality. To speak of both, now that he had children of his own, he had become even angrier about what the Capitol did – yes, that was possible.

 

Haymitch knew the plans, and had too much to go over to leave it to snippets whispered in hushed tones. He gathered his fellow victors in one of the secluded spots between Victors Village and the rest of the district on a day that was relatively warm by January standards.

 

“Anger against the Capitol has been building for obvious reasons, but what happened with Rory and Prim was the spark that lit the fire. District Thirteen is ready to fan the flames. Rory and Prim’s Victory Tour is going to be a dry run, and then things are going to get very wet. The plan is to go right to a District Thirteen hovercraft after the festivities.”

 

“Who besides us?” Prim wondered.

“Your families, of course,” Haymitch said to state the obvious. “I don’t think the Kolsters, though,” he added. Although they spoke to Ingrid and her family now, there had been no grand reconciliation. The twenty-year wound could not be ignored. News of this plot bore the danger of causing them to revert further to their old ways.

“The Capitol has been known to attack people through the ones they love,” Prim said.

Haymitch shook, and it wasn’t one of his usual drunken tremors. “I … I of all people would know,” Abernathy choked out.

“Even Cray couldn’t ignore that,” Rory suggested. There _were_ limits to the Hob Peacekeepers’ tendency to look the other way, and an escape of the district’s most notable residents would certainly be one of them.

“Nor could Undersee,” Haymitch added. “Him and his family are bailing out too. They already had plenty of reasons to hate the Capitol. It didn’t take too much to push them from that and ignoring your behavior into plans for open rebellion. And he isn’t even the only Mayor in on this.”

 

“Good for baby Lily and baby Heather,” Prim said approvingly of Madge’s niece and daughter.

“I suppose Lily ain’t quite a baby anymore at three and a third,” Rory countered.

“Heather just turned one,” Prim said defensively. Katniss was with her own daughter at her friend’s daughter’s birthday party.

 “Well, it’s good for all the babies who won’t grow up to be sent to the reaping, the mines, and who knows where else,” Rory said, sounding more like his older brother than usual.

 

“Including this one,” he said, reverting to his usual sweeter self as he patted his wife’s big belly. “Ingrid Katniss, Daddy loves you already!” The same machine that had told Katniss a girl and a boy had told Prim one girl. Of course Prim would name her daughter after the two ladies she loved so much, especially since ‘Ingrid Hazelle’ didn’t go together as well as ‘Jacob Thomas’. _For a son I’d want another Rory. The world would be a better place with more Rorys in it,_ Prim had told him sweetly. Their daughter would have a reversal of Katniss’ first and middle names, giving Rory the idea of ‘Thomas Gale’ for a son.

 

The Tour came, and while Haymitch would be with them, he still had some words of encouragement before it started. “Rather than celebrating a past victory, you’ll be starting a new one.”


	24. Code Thirteen

            “I hear there are some big plans for the next two weeks,” Cinna said, in a way that implied he knew very much what those plans really were. To be more direct, revealing his slate of gowns for Prim, he showed he could be as brilliant with maternity wear as anything else.

 

            Capitol trains weren’t alien to them now, but to the new victors, they might always feel somewhat unfamiliar compared to a life of walking around District Twelve.

 

            Prim looked outside the train windows at some of the farm fields of the Agriculture district. Many people here in District Eleven were hard at work even today, on what the Capitol portrayed as a day of celebration. If this is how the Capitol treated them, they would be especially inclined to rebellion but also have some of the most brutally effective “Peacekeepers” set over them to help keep that from happening. _I figured because of Haymitch’s words I’d know what to look for and that’s starting already_ , Prim thought.

 

            District Eleven’s tributes had both fallen in the bloodbath, so Rory didn’t have to stare any of his victims’ loved ones in the face quite yet. Come to think of it, the only people he’d had to kill were the girl from Two and the boy from One – no less dead, but the career districts _had_ fueled the Capitol spectacle by volunteering for it. If they see the truth now, too late but better late than never, Rory guessed.

 

            Their mayor stood on the platform to welcome the survivors, looking much like he did when he sent away the dead six months ago. A boy with him, maybe his son, stared at Prim’s belly and then at Rory. “Can’t blame you for doing that to her!” the teenager said loudly. Even the mayor was unamused, to say nothing of Rory. Prim’s glance to Rory said _Now isn’t the place to defend me; you did plenty of that in the arena._ The Tour as a whole brought back beyond unpleasant memories, not just this particular moment.

 

            All three of Eleven’s victors seemed supportive beyond just welcoming a new member of their order, but their mayor certainly wasn’t the one joining Undersee. The crowd was actually glad to see them, but not for the reasons Peacekeepers parroted. The 77th Games had been different and people got the idea that other things in Panem could change.

 

            “It seems I’m not the only one showing signs of life,” Prim joked as she panned the crowd. “Speaking of which, it’s a baby girl that Rory blessed me with,” she added, laying it on thick. The victors’ words had a hidden meaning that they wanted to keep that way for now. Humor and the nation’s favorite love story both helped conceal the truth. “Named Ingrid Katniss,” Prim announced.

            “Of course she would name our daughter after her mother and sister,” Rory tag-teamed. “The two people she loves even more than me.”

 

            “I know how precious sisters are,” a sweet voice chimed in, that of Rue, last year’s darling. Standing with her family, she gestured to the two girls in question. Rory somehow remembered from somewhere that they were twins four years younger than their famous sister. _That makes them eleven, so next summer would be their first Reaping, but if the odds are really in their favor, there won’t_ be _another Reaping._ They were named Apple and Peach, same as two of their district’s long-dead victors, but those who never faced the Games would be the real winners.

 

            “Our daughter’s gonna have some good women in her life. I hope our baby girl grows up to be as wonderful a person as they are,” Rory went on dreamily. _I hope she can grow up at all_ , he wanted to say. Life in the Seam, District Twelve, the Districts in general led people to expect very little and often not even get that; now the masses dreamed of more.

 

“Some people my wife really looks up to even though they aren’t exactly like each other. I know what that’s like with me and my brothers,” Rory continued.

“I get that too,” Rue offered, “with the way Sugarcane and Sawgrass look up to Johnny.”

“One could look up to men a lot worse than Gale Thomas Hawthorne. With Gale, our families including his babies are everything to him.” _Sometimes that can lead to not caring about anyone else,_ but that was decidedly not the message Rory was here to send. _Haven’t you had enough of the Capitol threatening yours too, let alone actually carrying out those threats?_ They sure had, judging by the cheers that were ostensibly for the devoted family boy.

 

Those kinds of cheers only grew louder as the Tour went on, as the sort of comments that brought them on kept coming. The three living victors in Ten and the two in Nine both seemed plenty supportive.

 

However, Eight brought another fever pitch to the proceedings. Cecelia, one of their rare victors, was one of the very few victors from any district who had children. She was happy to see her new comrades off to such a quick start. “I was one of many people to go wild when Rory’s mother explained that marriage ritual in the final eight interviews,” Mrs. Weaver began. “I married Alex here as soon as I got home from the arena. I’m so happy for you two having more time to wait than we all feared!”

 

The district was a grim factory town and could especially use the brightness this Tour brought. The Head Peacekeeper didn’t seem like he was improving the environment, a tall muscular man with close-cropped salt-and-pepper hair and a particularly stern demeanor.

 

Further west over in District Seven, Johanna Mason was angry. It was clear what invoked her righteous fury, probably to Snow too, but they pretended she was jealous someone else’s lover survived the arena. Prim was of course too kind to mention that. Even Rory knew to avoid the subject – either because or despite growing up amongst his brothers’ teasing, he knew where were some sharp comments that crossed the line. Everybody pretended Prim and Rory meant the words from the script the Capitol gave its victors.

 

In Five, Haymitch and his fellow alcoholic victor Jack stole the show with some drunken antics. “Yer drinkin fer two buddy!” he shouted as he handed two bottles to Rory. “Helps ya forget how much the arena injuries hurt!” he helpfully explained while dramatically pointing to Rory’s leg but really meaning their heads. Taking a sip of the ‘Liquid Lightning’, Rory mused that it deserved its name. None of the victors in Four were related, but they acted like a big family. Maybe their mayor was the other one on board with the rebellion; it had been clear that the other ones weren’t.

 

            Rory looked into a happy District Two crowd. “Seems you like us,” he observed. “I thought you would’ve been annoyed you didn’t get yet another victor or two,” he suggested.

            One of the victors they already had was given a microphone of his own. “Well, I also know what it’s like to make it out of an arena with someone I already knew so well,” Patrick Lazare II pointed out. His sister and fellow victor Mary stood close to him, smiling as he said this, obviously understanding the concept. There was a Peacekeeper standing even closer to her.

            “Our arena had rather different weather from yours,” Rory jokingly pointed out.

            “We could’ve used some of that fresh water in the 75th and you probably wanted it already liquid in the 77th,” Patrick agreed.

 

            “Looking at our comrades, seems I’m not the only victor about to be a father,” Rory added. Cato’s arm was wrapped around Clove’s belly, even more swollen than Prim’s.

            Clove waddled up to the first proffered microphone and spoke into it. “Soon as I heard you were having a baby too, I was on your side instead of thinking of my own district’s team.”

            “It’s been going around,” Prim agreed with characteristic cheer.

            “I figured you should be the first tribute with a sponsor from another district,” Clove went on.

            “With my money!” Cato interrupted, and many in this serious place started laughing, other married men especially.

            “Anyway…Seem familiar?” Clove asked, holding up a small loaf of bread.

            “A girl never forgets her wedding,” Prim said by way of an answer.

            “Apparently we did more than feed you,” Clove said, motioning to Cato. They raised their wrists together, the ones bearing their rings, and Prim and Rory answered by way of doing the same and taking a bow.

 

            “That Peacekeeper wants to defect to marry Mary,” Rory announced.

            “Yeah, mayors of big districts get Peacekeeper guards, and his daughter went and fell in love with one of them,” Haymitch explained. “He’s Clove’s brother besides.”

            “Wow, the power of love is quite strong this year,” Prim observed.

            “May it be stronger than the love of power,” Haymitch agreed.

            Rory and Prim knew Sapphire’s look all too well, that of a person who had lost someone they deeply loved. She wore the fancy Capitol ring, but also a somber black dress, so out of place for the person they knew as a lively young woman. She quietly displayed the same anger Johanna had been quite public with.

 

            Six and Three, even Rory and Prim’s second trip the Capitol and second homecoming, were relatively uneventful, especially by comparison. They finally made it back to their houses. Haymitch had long since ripped out his own telephone in one of his drunken rages. So he went to use Prim and Rory’s. “Pat, this is Mitchie. Commence Code Thirteen.”


	25. Wedding March

_District Twelve_

 

No sooner than Rory and Prim got home, they had to leave again. Yet they were prepared, their relatives having spent much of the past two weeks packing up their possessions, still relatively meager even after six months of living as victors.

 

The Undersees and their in-laws showed that Townies weren’t truly wealthy either. “Ingrid, it’s been far too long,” an old woman said.

“So it is, Mrs. Donner,” Mrs. Everdeen agreed. “Sadly, I’ve lately had Jacob to grieve instead of Maysilee,” she admitted.

“My twin songbird is still with me,” Melody Donner Undersee said, croaking the words out but still defiant. “Even though Snow took her away. About time someone made him pay!”

 

“I wish I could have done more for you, Melody,” Ingrid said to her old friend’s sister.

“I know even you couldn’t, not having Capitol medical technology to fix what Capitol power broke. They don’t care about any district people, apparently not even a mayor’s wife. I never dreamed we’d have a chance to actually do anything about it, so I jumped at this opportunity when Haymitch brought it up. He’s always been there for Maysilee too,” Mrs. U finished.

 

“Enough of working within their rotten system,” her husband added. “And it took Lazare this long to even realize it was rotten?”

“Better late than never,” Madge chimed in.

“I suppose so, dear,” he agreed.

“And same for fancy doctors having a look at Momma,” Madge added, “another thing Thirteen might do that the Capitol doesn’t.”

 

A District Thirteen hovercraft became visible right outside the fence as it dropped its shields. Gale was first through, eagerness to be sure. Eagerness to actually do something about what he had said out in those woods, eagerness to fulfill his other dream now that he had a happy family with Katniss. However, the action also showed the Townies how to fit through the fence with time being of the essence.

 

The craft took to the air while the ramp was still being raised and the last passenger still being seated. Anna Flowers Undersee was tossed around a bit, but she understood. “Gotta move this thing before the Capitol scrambles its own after it.”  


It would be a short flight, Districts Twelve and Thirteen being close in geography as well as identifying number. However, it still left time to talk. “I do still need medics, but there is something that has made me feel better lately,” the mayor’s wife began.

“What?” several other passengers said almost simultaneously.

“Her name is Heather. Her and seeing how happy her mothers are together,” she said with a smile, and one could tell that facial expression was rare on Mrs. Undersee.

 

“Holding Jacob 2 is the first time I haven’t felt out of my mind since losing Jacob 1,” Ingrid agreed. As if on cue, Katniss brought the toddler over. Adults had enough trouble moving about on a hovercraft in flight, let alone babies.

“You like Sage too,” Gale teased.

“Of course I do, but she’s calm with her other grandma right now, and, well, it sounded funnier this way,” Ingrid pointed out.

 

“Sorry to interrupt the family gathering, but we’re about to land in District Thirteen,” the hovercraft pilot spat out sarcastically.

 

_District Two_

 

Upon Haymitch Abernathy’s signal to Patrick Lazare II, Patrick Lazare I got on a hovercraft with his children and staff, along with their district’s other victors and their families, those other victors lucky enough to have any living relatives. Ostensibly, he was taking them on a tour of their district, and that’s what he told Air Traffic Control in the Western Fortress. However, he was really taking them on a tour of another district.

 

They got in the air and got their shields up. There wasn’t much anybody could do about the flight at that point since the crew was certainly disciplined enough to maintain radio silence.

 

Lyme knew of a rebel hovercraft hidden somewhere in the mountains of District Two, but that rebel vessel could now be put to other uses or held in reserve. _Well, I’m a military commander again and I’ve been thinking like one_ , the mayor mused to himself. The official Capitol craft he commandeered could carry more people with less risk of trouble from the tower minders inside the fortress.

 

Already it was clear that District Two was making this rebellion go much more smoothly. Most people of significance were well aware of that or would be soon. Sure, he had been pushed towards this by what the arena had done to his children. The shock they went through seemed comparable to the experiences of some Peacekeepers who had seen heavy action or many civilians who had been exposed to grisly crimes. He once thought the Games served a similar purpose in maintaining order, but now he doubted that, not to mention the purpose for which the Corps was trying to maintain order. Building on those thoughts, his district had been first amongst supposed equals and may as well maintain that status if there was to be a rebellion.

 

Lyme had been a rebel for far longer than the Lazares. She had grown up in the less affluent part of Two, after all, and had found the Games to be a way out. If that was enough to tempt her to treason, the other districts must be even angrier.

 

Lyme lightened the mood with some dark chocolate. Sometimes it seemed she couldn’t get enough of the stuff. Being calorie-dense, it made for superb rations, and even the less-sweet stuff was still a marked improvement over Peacekeeper field rations. Several from District Two’s detachment of the Brown and Blacks had been persuaded to defect along with the group of prominent civilians. A Corporal King led the group in scattering foil wrappers on the hovercraft floor. “They still feed you boys FR six six sixes?” Mayor Lazare asked.

“Yessir,” he replied.

“I know these are a big improvement,” the mayor said, taking a bite out of his own, “but still, police your foil,” leading by example by putting his own wrapper in a spare pocket.

 

Some might complain that they were abandoning their district, but they were really just serving it from a different location, and truly serving it instead of the Capitol. The rebel war plan called for clearing out the other districts before going after the loyalists back home and in the Capitol itself.

 

This made sense to the old general. It ought allow time to build up rebel forces and wear down those of the Capitol. Morale was always critical, and people ought be persuaded to turn away from the Capitol and towards the rebels over time. The districts’ resources would be given to one of their own instead of taken by the Capitol. The war may come down to a siege which could be expedited by preventing the enemy from further building up their resource stockpile, a kind of battle as old as the hills. Thirteen’s plans were also the classic strategy of concentrating forces on an enemy weak point, that being defined as each district in turn and then the city that would no longer be controlling them. It was the attacker’s advantage against fortified defensive positions.

 

The elder Patrick spoke up again as soon as he felt the hovercraft touch down inside a District Thirteen hangar. “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to play the wedding march.”

 

_District Thirteen_

 

Mary Lazare would promptly be marrying that Peacekeeper, Alexander Hawkins. Well, it seemed that him and the few men he could trust from his unit were now very much ex-Peacekeepers. One of his soldiers, a Nero Antonius, stood ready as his ringbearer. Maria carried Mary’s band, having been a friend from the Career academy and their victor from two years before Mary and Patrick.

 

Thirteen had evacuated some key rebels from some districts besides Twelve, in addition to Two’s self-evacuation.

 

Madge, with Anna, was the only already-married child of a mayor. “No one in their right mind would marry Harvest Blade’s asshole son,” Madge said. “Junior over in District Eleven is one of those males that makes me feel better about being attracted to females instead.” The Lazares knew exactly what she meant and so did the District Eleven civilians.

“Ah, so I’m not the only famous homosexual in this country,” Ruby London assessed.

“But one of the more obvious ones,” Anna replied, and his husband Carolus laughed.

“Well, Panem sure has its problems, but how it treats people like us isn’t really one of them,” Ruby went on after the chuckles had died down. _Treats us just as bad as everyone else_ , some thought. “It’s more gender roles that get me sometimes. Well, as an Academy student, then a tribute, then a victor and mentor, I got more of the respect I deserved.”

Then the conversation switched from his perspective as a Career to Madge’s view as a mayor’s relative. “I’ve noticed the Marriage Act simply uses gender-neutral wording.”

 

“I will become a husband today; I may well become an uncle as well,” the groom said of his nine months pregnant sister.

Clove wouldn’t have missed her big brother’s wedding even if it was a simple ceremony at the District Two Justice Building, let alone this extravaganza in the District Thirteen Collective. _Well, an extravaganza by the standards of Districts Two or Thirteen._

Ingrid found this very unusual as a midwife but quite understandable. Well, there was certainly a big strong man ready to carry the woman who was in the process of becoming the mother of his child.

 

Cato hoped Alexander would become like a brother he’d never had, much like Flavia and Hannibal as a sister and father.

Mary had been at his wedding and now he was at hers. Obviously Patrick II would be there for his co-victor sister. It wasn’t surprising that the other District Two victors joined them, Lyme the only one with the District Thirteen military uniform broken in.

Yet what really made a difference was the presence of victors from other districts – it showed that they were united against the Capitol, rather than divided by it. So much had changed when Clove saw through Capitol propaganda to Prim’s humanity, and now they literally stood together.

 

“Naming your daughter after your mother is a brilliant idea,” Clove said with an air of self-satisfaction.

“Let me guess – that’s what you were going to do.” Prim realized.

“Cato’s mother, actually. The arena took his father before his parents could marry, and now there will be a Teresa Adams. Teresa Ivy Adams, actually, I could leave my own momma out of it,” Clove explained.

“Isn’t that the sweetest thing?” Mrs. Everdeen said, amazed.

 

            She saw even more substantial appeal in another aspect of this scene. The bride had arms locked with her father for now. “That’s what a man should think about his daughter’s choice of husband!” she announced.

            “Your father did not walk you into your Justice Building?” he wondered perceptively.

            “To put it _very_ mildly,” Ingrid agreed, and this bride’s father recognized that it was a _very_ sore topic.

 

            Miles Undersee was alone in mayor’s vestments; both Patrick Lazares were amongst many in military uniforms. The father of the groom was another soldier. “Best get familiar with him and stay on his good side,” Lyme cautioned. “He was a recruit trainer back in his Peacekeeper days, and he’ll fill the same role for us.

            “Back in _Lyme_ ,” Patrick Lazare I ordered. This seemed to be what passed for levity amongst these serious folks, and a few chuckles spread out.

            “Yes, General,” she said crisply before promptly doing so.

            “Wedding march,” the general continued, and the District Two people besides Cato and Clove moved forward in lockstep. The evacuees of age from other districts were also enlisted, including Rory himself, but only the District Two folks followed this drill. “Halt so they can begin their life together.” _How romantic,_ Rory thought sarcastically, but then again he knew a few people outside of District Twelve thought the toasting was silly.

 

            “Will you be the solid rocks upon which each other can build their lives?” Ruby asked.

 

            There was a party and feast afterwards, quite impressive given the circumstances. Lyme also liked her chocolate in cake form, apparently.

 

            Rory saw a redheaded King with a sense of humor. “You know a Darius?” the Hawthorne victor called out.

            “My brother!” this one responded happily. Even the average Peacekeeper didn’t get much news about other districts – mainly to maintain operational security, but it also broke down such family bonds to focus on the bonds of soldiers. Yet as an old saying pointed out, blood was thicker than water. The Capitol should soon learn that lesson the hard way after decades of attacking the institution as an alternative for the peoples’ attention.

            “He’s with the infantry in Twelve. He also knows what the deal is about the Capitol,” Rory explained. “He’s one of the regulars at our black market. Peacekeepers who don’t care for their rations are known to look the other way on poaching,” he understated. Cyrus passed along the story of the chocolate on the hovercraft and added another old saying, ‘an army marches on its stomach’.

 

Rory read ‘Clayton’ off one of the many fresh name patches and said “You must be Rue’s father”.

“Exactly, and I’m here because the Capitol hurt my little girl. When you have a daughter, you’ll understand,” he answered. “Even after all the Capitol already does to us.”

“Yeah, my brother is especially glad to be doing something while my niece and nephew are still young,” Rory agreed.

 

            The mess hall was soon graced by people from yet another district, the victors of Four. “Hello,” a man introduced himself, and most of the women and some of the men already present turned for more than a glance. Finnick Odair had the sort of look that made even the Hawthorne boys seem plain, with an even deeper skin tone, and even more charm. “Sorry we’re late. We had to wait until Peacekeepers didn’t have an eye on us.”

            Looking at the pretty yet bedraggled woman clinging to him, fellow victor Anemone ‘Annie’ Cresta, it was clear there was another couple the Capitol wasn’t happy with, maybe because Snow would rather have Finnick amuse Capitol VIP’s. A traditional District Four wedding would take more time to set up than that of Two, especially with this change of plans. Nevertheless, It seemed like the family of victors was about to become even closer, and closer to helping free Panem of the Capitol.


	26. Wedding Shanty

            “So we’re going to be playing the wedding march again tomorrow,” Mary said to Annie.

            “Being District Four, it’s more a shanty than a march, but yes,” Annie answered.

            “It’s obvious what you and most of the rest of the country see in him; I bet what he sees in you is that you’ve been through the arena too so you know how it is,” Mary went on.

           

That wasn’t quite right, but it was more respect than Finnick usually got for his relationship with Annie, so even the often socially confused District Four victor knew to take it graciously. “That’s part of it, but…Mrs. Hawkins, is it?” It was hard enough for the brides who chose a new name to remember to use it, let alone their guests. Mary nodded, and Annie continued. “We had met even before his Games, fell in love even before mine, but what you described certainly added depth to it. Both before and after I survived the arena, he had a unique gift for calming me.”

“Aye, I fell in love with Alex here when he proved to protect me as more than just a physical guard,” Mary agreed.

 

“It seems that his sister, not to mention Primrose’s sister, gravitated more towards excitement with an air of danger,” Mary added. Katniss Everdeen Hawthorne mused that yet again someone else seemed to know her feelings better than she knew them herself. Maybe in another time, in a world where she had been through even more hell, she may have wanted the calming and safe influence of the beyond mild-mannered baker’s son. As things were, Gale’s unique vitality added something indescribably wonderful to his Catnip’s life, but would it have been too much?

 

“With both my father and husband being army officers, I’ll serve in aircrew instead,” she announced, a plan already approved by the authorities. Her gown had been the light blue of the sky, after all. A District Four lady would certainly notice that in comparison to the deep blue or light green of the ocean.

“We’ve all seen you shoot. Woe to those blinded by the Capitol in your sights,” Annie assessed. She had moments of understanding people better than she thought she did.

 

“Well, we’re going to be out of uniform for the immediate future,” Alexander Hawkins said in a salacious tone of voice that made clear the newlyweds weren’t going to be wearing anything else either.

Finnick jokingly ‘offered some nautically themed advice’. “It’s the size of the boat, the motion of the ocean, _and_ staying in port long enough for both passengers to disembark.” Many of the men in the audience laughed particularly loudly, but the women weren’t so artificially ladylike as to ignore the well-placed bit of ribald humor. “May the odds be ever in your favor,” Finnick said happily, already thinking ahead to his own wedding night where he would be able to thrill the one lady he truly loved, admittedly with techniques learned in the service of adult females in the Capitol he couldn’t have cared less about.

 

Mary and Alex wanted a big family after the war. She had started birth control injections, one of the many behind-the-scenes preparations of the evacuees. Many other women had delayed childbearing for far more mundane reasons of career. Two who hadn’t had gone a long way to setting these events in motion.

 

A sympathetic District Thirteen advisor brought them stimulant pills the next morning. “I knew you two wouldn’t get much sleep last night and I wanted to help you look your best for welcoming your comrades into the club today.

 

Why Finnick and Annie hadn’t married yet, how Snow had forced Finnick to amuse Capitol elites instead of be alone with his beloved Annie, was a story beyond sad that did not belong on this happy day. Yet it needed to be included in the broadcast to provide a suitable explanation to the audiences throughout Panem.

 

District Thirteen techs had already hacked the Capitol communications network to display Alexander and Mary’s union to the world. By all accounts that show had proved quite popular, even with many of the Peacekeepers that were supposed to have controlled the crowds. The military ritual of the ceremony resonated profoundly, not to mention one of their own rejecting the Corps’ marriage restriction.

 

A District Three victor had unsurprisingly aided the technical side of the propaganda efforts. His name was a mouthful, Bernard Theodore “Beetee” Gates Latier. He was a close friend of fellow victor Wiress from a decade and a half later, but seemed to stand alone in technical wizardry. Their successor Silica was also more suited to the laboratory than the battlefield. The same would have gone for Dmitri even if he hadn’t been too old. Regina of the 68th Games could and would fight, though. Some victors, like today’s groom, had outfought their fellow tributes. Some others, like today’s bride, had out-survived them.

 

Their ringbearers were the fellow victors Hook and Lotus. Those two opened their palms to reveal the specific pieces they were carrying. They spoke in unison with an enchanting story about the heirloom jewelry. “Several past victors have married, but there was only one two-victor couple before this - Popeye and Olive from our district fifty years ago. They are no longer with us, but they knew about Finnick and Annie, and willed their rings to them for when this moment could finally come.” Finnick and Annie took the rings and put them on.

 

Mama Odair and Papa Cresta read the District Four style vows in unison. “Will you serve faithfully as the captains of each others’ hearts?” and two voices answered ‘We will’ with just as much synchronicity.

 

The loudest cheers came from the previously-married victors in attendance – Mary, Cato, Rubeus, Rory and Prim who still figured they may as well be, but especially Cecelia Weaver of District Eight. Her non-victor husband Alexander and their three daughters were present but not as loud.

 

Existing married couples, victor or not, joined the newlyweds on stage. District Four newlyweds touched saltwater to their lips, and the evacuees from the fishing district had made sure to bring some vials with them specifically for this purpose. Finnick dipped his finger in and painted it onto Annie’s lips. Annie rushed to return the favor, already far too long a time in coming.

 

Those upon the stage started singing a song comparing marriage to a long sea voyage. Katniss found the tune quickly, and Gale wished the world was graced with more of his wife’s beautiful singing. Rue, near the front of the audience, soon picked up on the chorus, and there was a moment in which their harmony stood out amongst the many far more amateur voices.

 

Yesterday’s cake had been in the shape of a simple stone block, but today’s was cut like a fish and frosted blue.

 

Annie finally had her first and last, but now it was time to bring reality to the dreams of them and many others.


	27. Birth, Metaphorical And Literal

The nation of Panem was experiencing a metaphorical rebirth that promptly overtook the country with the gestures of defiance following the Victory Tour. While it was a concerted effort of all thirteen districts, there was too much chaos to be willing and able to keep track of what exactly was going on in other parts of the country. It would take some doing to bring the districts back together after decades, even centuries, of the Capitol separating them.

 

An imminent literal birth was but a part of the current grand events. Cato had special dispensation to leave his military training sessions and head to the District Thirteen medical center when Clove went into labor. Unlike the Career district hospitals they were familiar with, there wasn’t a separate section for pregnancy and childbirth. There wasn’t much of that here. It wasn’t because the people were on birth control; the medics had a limited stockpile of the stuff. It’s not like there weren’t lovers here either.

 

A special unit was being built around Alexander Hawkins and his fellow Peacekeeper defectors. Well, they were already a unit; it was a matter of adding to it. Apparently young commissioned officers often held command of enlisted veterans who in turn were set over the average soldiers.

 

A few of District Thirteen’s native finest would join Lieutenant Hawkins and his existing comrades. The victors and their relatives who were most fit for fighting would train along with the same group. Rory was one of the few old enough but not really enlistees to not be shuffled off to a trainer named York.

 

“I’m sixty-three and I can still run faster than your sorry asses!” Clove’s father barked. _That’s just the start of it, one of the other old soldiers muttered._ That had been either Homes or Mitchell – the trainees from other districts couldn’t tell the two apart. The Leeg sisters were much younger and even harder to distinguish. “You _will_ fix this!” he continued.

“Yes sir!” all of the group answered.

“I can’t _hear_ you!” he countered in a similarly deep and bellowing voice. As Hannibal Hawkins made the metaphorical point, no one dared to literally question the old man’s hearing.

 

Life in District Thirteen was very scheduled – quite literally – a daily routine stamped on one’s arm in the morning and washed off in the evening. A couple weeks in, they switched from solid drill to also starting to learn how to handle their rifles. “Hell of a birthday present!” Gale said, meeting his 22nd with a whole magazine shot off on full automatic. “Finally we’ll be able to meet the Peacekeepers on equal footing!”

“Soldier Hawthorne has just demonstrated how quickly full auto uses up yer ammo,” Hannibal Hawkins said disapprovingly. In that case, the weapon fired as long as the trigger was held down; thirty rounds at several hundred per minute led to a burst of only a couple seconds. The new soldiers promptly got it through their heads to use semiauto the vast majority of the time; each shot required a new trigger pull, but the mechanism loaded the next one.

 

This unit had a particularly high proportion of experienced soldiers, and that helped accelerate its training overall. As for the firearm technical matters in particular, it helped that the rebel arms were similar to the Peacekeeper weapons Alexander and his men had brought with them. “Supply chain is key to war, always has been, helps that they can supply us with the same 6.59x42 cartridges and some of the same parts,” their lieutenant explained.

 

Cato got the call he was most eagerly awaiting toward the end of the third week, when they were leaving the training grounds at the end of the day anyway. “Seems you can run fast after all, Adams!” Hannibal Hawkins joked as the young man took off to meet his daughter, the old man close behind to meet _his_ granddaughter.

 

Unfortunately for Clove in particular, Teresa Ivy Adams was not so prompt. The men, relatives and their new friends, waited in nearby rooms.

 

“You have good reason to think you’re the toughest guy around, but you’ll still melt when you have your baby daughter in your arms,” Gale advised Cato. “Trust me, I would know.”

“Augh!!!!!!!!!!!” Clove yelled from the next room over.

“She made a hell of a racket when it was going in her, too,” Cato joked, and he and Gale were nearly doubled over laughing.

“At least she’s not throwing things at you,” Gale pointed out.

“Morphling, it’s a hell of a drug,” Cato observed.

 

Ingrid Everdeen was readying another vial of it for her latest patient when her next patient made her appearance. She remembered this moment with her own daughters, with much less medical assistance beyond her own knowledge. She nevertheless remembered a similar sense of relief.

 

The medics here saw surprisingly little of it, so they were glad to hand the case over to her. It had taken them some time to respect her skills since as a necessity she didn’t garner them through fancy education. Evidently, she was able to work more dispassionately, but still with caring, when it wasn’t one of her own. Katniss was one of the fellow exiles nearby and waiting for news. Her other one was too close to this moment herself to care to move around much; Rory had found Prim sleeping and had known to leave his beloved in that state.

 

One note of screaming transitioned into a different one of wailing. “They certainly make full use of their first breaths, don’t they?” Gale observed, remembering how loud his newborns had been, as they got up to walk into the birthing room.

“Yeah, I’d prefer being inside Clove too,” Cato answered, but his façade of dirty jokes was clearly crumbling already under the emotional rush.

“But her breasts are a pretty good alternative, aren’t they?” Gale continued, getting a few more chuckles out of his comrade.

 

“Took you long enough to meet Mommy,” Clove said, but in such a light tone that even though the wall one could practically see the new mother’s face beaming.

“Daddy ain’t gonna wait so long to meet you,” Cato said as he swaggered in. “I can’t believe my little girl is finally here. Now I know what love at first sight is,” he said as he first shielded his baby with his big strong arms. _Took you long enough to figure out love_ , he could hear Clove saying in his head. “I know there a lot of special people here for you. Now let’s get a picture of Teresa Ivy with Teresa and Ivy,” Cato suggested as flashes went off. He finished with a declaration. “This Adams is going to know their father.”


	28. Evacuation

“Little Duck, there’s someone who wants to see you,” Katniss said to her still-groggy sister. It hadn’t been a long walk from her compartment to that of her sister. Though she was still living with her new family instead of the one she had been born into, the evacuees had compartments nearby in District Thirteen, in an area of the underground complex that was now being called Celebrity Row.

            “Sage want Auntie Prim again?” she guessed.

            “No, it’s your turn to have Clove show off little Teresa,” Katniss explained.

            “Thought she might have had her baby already,” a groggy Prim answered.

            “Didn’t seem so quick to me,” the topic of the discussion said as she opened the door, her black braids swishing from the motion and the breeze of the door itself. “But still my best choice ever, even without the unique political circumstances we got started because of it.”

            Prim gently put her hands on the bundle of joy. “Got her,” she said once she had a firm grip, and Clove released hers. Prim pulled away the light gray and dark gray cloth and smiled. Clove went on to some admirers as the Everdeens walked to breakfast together. It was an odd thing to them, to have plenty of uniform food instead of scraping together an assortment that had never been quite enough. It was a change they felt they could get used to.

 

            “I’m more excited than ever,” Prim told her big sister. “Not only for her,” she said while patting her own swelling belly, “but for the best chance we’re ever going to get to make the country a decent place for her and people like her.”

“Clove’s also itching to fight to make that happen,” Katniss agreed. “I’ve always been here to help you with everything, Little Duck, including with both of those two things.”

            “And me to heal the likes of you and the people the Capitol leaves in its wake going after you,” Prim said with the ferocity people now generally knew she had inside her. She thought the introductory medical classes here were quite simple, a refresher of what she had already learned through her mother. Had she not been occupied with being in the late stages of pregnancy, she would have pushed to be transferred to more-advanced courses. The bright future seen for her personally was in being able to make the most of her aptitude.

 

            At the time, Ingrid had decided to not rouse the daughter who was usually her healer’s aide. “We both know that treating any sort of patient can be chaotic,” she explained now. “We didn’t need you bumping your baby bump,” she said with a smile, an expression that had become much less rare for her recently, especially these past several months. “Also, we had our hands full with a term birth and didn’t want to risk shocking you into premature labor.”

 

            Both of her daughters went ahead. “Anyone who hurts you did something wrong – what decent person would harm someone as kind, as cheerful, as nurturing, as smart as my Little Duck?” Katniss declared.

            “And who should do that to you? You’re wonderful too, just in a different way and sometimes you don’t know it.” _Just._ Well, that was Primrose Everdeen at her best. No wonder she had everyone’s love, especially that of her big sister. “Nobody should do that to anyone,” Prim finished.

 

            When the District Twelve natives reached the dining hall, they found many people standing up and cheering. Clove had arrived already, and the District Thirteen natives were even more excited about her newborn. The people here were well-fed, unimaginatively though it may be, but they were starved for a break in the monotony of their lives.

 

            That evening, Gale’s warm gaze as he broke off a kiss with dear Catnip did plenty to warm her up. “I guess I’m glad the other girls taught you how to do that so you could _really. light. me. up_ ,” she said, growing more and more enthusiastic as she flung his arms back around him.

            “I have a feeling that pretty soon our bed won’t be the hardest thing in this room,” Gale said, smirking.

            “You been spoiled by our few months in Victors Village?” she said with lighthearted sarcasm. “You’ve slept on worse and you know it. And I know it because I have too.” Had she not been burning with desire for her soulmate right now, she may have thought about another man, Peeta Mellark – while his mother was a witch, he never had to sleep on the splintered planks making up the floor of a Seam shack.

            “Though any bed I share with you, the woman of my dreams, is a happy one,” he said, indicating what he wanted to do in it as he pulled her pants and panties down together over her lithe legs. He laid down on the bed with her body still clinging to his. She spread as much as she could in their tangled pile of clothes to envelop him, to both quench and fuel the fire in her.

 

            Their relationship had deepened even further since they had started sharing each others’ bodies, over a year and a half ago now, and this feeling of being entangled with him as they rested together reminded her why she was so glad of it.

 

            The next three days were uneventful, but the next one after that was to become all too eventful. The morning of March 12th, sirens blared throughout the whole of District Thirteen. President Alma Coin’s cold voice punctuated the alarms. “All military personnel including recruits to the flight hangar. In full gear! This is not a drill!”

 

            Something big was going on, that much was clear enough. As soldiers and aircrew arrived in the chaos, Coin herself was there to explain what it was. “Intel says the Capitol is reinforcing District Twelve.” _With people far less friendly than Cray, let alone Darius or Purnia,_ Katniss added to herself, and her fellow District Twelve rogues felt similar worry for their home. “We are to _greet them_ as best we can.”

            She then switched from general orders to a specific one. “Rory Hawthorne! Get your mother and your mentor!” _We need as many District Twelve people as we can get, even civilians_ , Rory figured as he ran off. He promptly came back with the people in question.

 

            The district would have two pairs of eyes in the sky with Madge and Anna, flying in separate hovercraft. One airman running into the same hovercraft as Anna said “Finally some female comrades who don’t mind the hot chicks painted on the fuselage.” Pretty ladies aside, the people of District Thirteen seemed to really need the splashes of color amidst the gray drabness of their daily lives. It was a wonder someone as strict as Coin allowed it. Maybe she figured that since individual craft needed to be identified, these designs served as well as plain numbers or somesuch. Mary was boarding the same vessel as Madge. As expected, the new Mrs. Hawkins was proving to be a superb gunner.

 

Her husband’s unit, including Katniss, happened to be flying aboard that craft in particular. Katniss noticed it had plenty of empty space, even with the vast majority of District Thirteen’s ground forces packing into its fleet. “We’re bringing back your district with us,” Alexander explained.

“Liberating Panem from its Capitol one district at a time?” Katniss responded.

“Well, that,” he agreed. “Also, while we ought be able to disrupt these reinforcements, we might not be able to hold the position against successive counterattacks, and even if we could, it would tie down our forces.”

 

Most of the soldiers had just come off the first shift in the dining hall, so Gale had passed around the suggestion to save the packs of field rations for the literally starving people of District Twelve.

 

The planes soon took off, and the forces aboard them spent much of the short flight more securely fixing their armor, loading their weapons and distributing spare magazines. “Arrival in District Twelve imminent,” barked the intercom. A chorus of clicks was heard through the hovercraft as its occupants disabled their rifles’ safeties.

 

The hovercrafts positioned themselves just inside the district border fence, either landing or positioning themselves low enough to make it a short jump. The immediate vicinity of the transports was clear. The District Twelve folks were back home, but had been told over and over to not dwell on that and do their duty. For Mrs. Everdeen that was being with Lyme and General Lazare to show them through the Merchant Section. Haymitch and Hazelle were with a different group of District Thirteen soldiers already all heading in the direction of the Seam.

 

Those Capitol reinforcements were just arriving, rolling along the road into the town square in heavy trucks.

 

            Raspberry saw something different in one of the Peacekeepers emerging from the vehicles. His armor wasn’t quite the same, and he wasn’t wearing the usual helmet with dark visor, revealing a stern face with cropped white, gray and black hair. These were the marks of an officer throwing his weight around and not expecting combat. _Time for the unexpected_ , Raspberry thought, leveling her gun and holding the trigger before anyone on either side could react. This wasn’t Claudius Domitian, but he became the focal point of Raspberry’s rage against the Head Peacekeeper she knew. As Romulus Thread’s face exploded, the crew of his vehicle returned fire, with Raspberry twisting and falling to the earth as she was hit in various places.

 

            Rory had recognized the asshole from the District Eight stop on the Victory Tour, and whispered this realization to Gale. Gale’s first thought was that Romulus was the kind of Capitol functionary that frankly deserved to die, that victims like Raspberry were the sad price of making that happen, to prevent even more victims over the future.

 

            Those may well have been the first shots fired of this war, but there were far too many other bullets in the air to further dwell on the moment. Raspberry wasn’t the only one caught in the return fire. “My leg!” a voice screamed that was unmistakably Cato’s.

Medic instincts kicking in, Ingrid diverted herself from her role as a hometown guide. As she went to apply pressure to the bleeding, she joked “I saw someone do this in the Games last year”. Soldier Adams laughed a bit through his screaming. “And I’m the one who taught her how to do that,” she added, passing time while she held down on the wound.

“Teresa…” Cato hissed as he was getting lightheaded.

“That girl’s definitely something to live for,” Ingrid agreed, now talking to a father instead of a patient.

 

The district had looked relatively empty even before the shooting started. “The men would’ve hit the mines by now,” Gale explained for the benefit of people from other districts.

 

The rebels had initially seen a few Peacekeepers riding handholds on the outsides of the vehicles, but there were many inside as well. As they emerged and regrouped, they seemed to have the same idea of storming the mines, though with a very different intent. “Cut ‘em off!” Lieutenant Hawkins ordered, and he led the unit in racing to block the path.

 

The District Thirteen hovercraft that brought them hadn’t left. They needed to be ready to load refugees, and there weren’t Capitol hovercraft around to counterattack them. _Yet?_ Katniss worried. The force already knew that they had to move quickly here. One hovercraft extended a large gun barrel and caused a Peacekeeper’s neck to explode even more dramatically than its commander’s face, some of the other shots stirring up dirt from the road and the area around it. Katniss wiped her own visor to find blood and guts, both comforted and sickened that they weren’t her own.

 

The multitude of small guns on the ground supported the few big ones in the air. The rebels were making more of the _other_ poor bastards die for _their_ cause. One of the few survivors flipped his visor and said “Dammit, Hawkins, you traitor, I give up!” His subordinates also surrendered.

“Sergeant Antonius, Corporal Aemilus, escort Lieutenant Stone and his men to the transports,” he ordered in response.

 

For centuries, most had recognized that killing those who had surrendered was simply not the way to wage war. Whether forces were willing to surrender differed based on a multitude of circumstances. Those who faced a grim fate even if they surrendered were liable to fight to the death. This made good prisoner treatment a matter of practical common sense as well as a moral issue. These rebels knew what the Capitol would do to traitors. The Capitol had no particular policies against its own forces surrendering, maybe not expecting to encounter threats powerful enough to make that a possibility. The rebels hoped they could inspire Capitol enforcers with a better example.

 

They all saw other handfuls of Peacekeeper prisoners being led to the transports along with the first waves of District Twelve civilians leading themselves there. Gale stared at an unfriendly Peacekeeper, and glanced down at the bodies of four District Thirteen soldiers. “There had been bad blood between us even before he shed the blood of my comrades,” he explained.

 

“We’re covering the mine entrances now,” he further announced. Other rebels were going to work removing the bodies of their dead and removing gear from the bodies of dead Peacekeepers. That rearguard also helped clear the vanguard’s path to the mines, the current orders being to take the west entrance in force.

 

The sentries had been taking shots at the approaching rebels, but only one found its target, another slain from District Thirteen itself. Katniss wheeled towards the guards and placed a shot directly in the neck of one. To kill humans was a different experience from drawing the blood of forest animals, she had quickly found, even when it was as justifiable as this. However, the aiming wasn’t so different in this situation. They had found in training that the old District Thirteen men definitely still had their eyesight about them, being even better shots. They saw it now in live combat as Homes and Mitchell both fell the other sentry. Also, a nervous-looking mine foreman didn’t duck for cover in time.

 

They saw a boy and girl near the rock pile, their mouths locked and their hands elsewhere. Gale Hawthorne of all people knew how that worked. “It looks like we have a new King of the Slag Heap. Him and his latest loyal subject ought to get running to The Meadow,” he announced. He knew the boy was one of the older Mellark brothers but couldn’t recognize the Townie.

“Never thought Hawthorne would settle down…going!” he said, pulling the girl with him. Joking though he was, he understood the severity of the situation.

 

The unit started searching the rooms inside the entrance, finding most of the mine security Peacekeepers spread out guarding key offices and storerooms, easy targets for the rebels still moving in a cohesive mass. The rebel rearguards would be summoned to take custody of the explosives. Katniss and the Hawthorne brothers, knowing their fathers had likely been shredded by such devices, were infinitely relieved that the task had been passed to someone else. Their nerves were wrecked enough merely being in the same place. At least they wouldn’t have to descend into the depths, the worst of their panic attacks during the yearly school trips, which they had often tried to avoid, sometimes successfully.

 

Gale ran across a room where miners stored gear and rinsed off the top of the many layers of coal dust. He found an announcement system that broadcasted down into the mines. “Attention miners! This is Gale Hawthorne inside the western entrance. With District Thirteen’s help we can resist the Capitol, starting by evacuating these damned mines!”

 

The time it took to run the creaky old elevators was the last thing they needed right now. Yet when the gates opened on the first car disgorging its load of weary men, the sense of impatience was lost in a rush of joy - grown men breaking down and crying, leaving coal dust on uniforms as they embraced their hometown heroes. Several rides later, some of the men emerged carrying blood-spattered pistols. “Had to overwhelm the few goons they had down there, but it’s not like we weren’t dying in the mines anyway,” one said wearily.

“We took care of the ones up here for ya,” Gale said, inspecting the firearms only to find them empty. Their unit still had plenty of rifle ammunition left, but had a very limited amount of handgun rounds to begin with.

“Mine and miners secured,” Hawkins reported through his communicuff. _Earlier, the sentries at the eastern entrance had been ambushed on their way to investigate the commotion on the other side of the mine._ “Area around the western entrance still clear,” was the reply he got and forwarded to his soldiers and the refugees.

 

General Lazare’s task force in the town had taken custody of the replacement mayor and his relatives. Officers of the existing Peacekeeper force not engaged elsewhere also surrendered to him – Lieutenant Colonel Walter Cray, Lieutenant Purnia Artemis, and some other names Hob regulars also knew well. That had been a major objective of the elder Lazare’s presence, to impress District Twelve functionaries with his authority. It had been a resounding success like much of the rest of this battle.

 

However, they still passed a group of hundreds of rebel bodies on the way back to rebel hovercraft. The general had some information for his son-in-law’s unit. “You boys got a load of their headquarters company and first battalion, but some of our recruits got slammed hard by their third battalion, not so far out of training themselves. Second battalion was the folks who were already here; a lot of them didn’t take much of a push to come all the way over.”

 

Many of the Hawthornes’ Hob friends were relieved that such a moment had finally come, and eagerly approached their unit. It seemed Darius was especially happy about it. “Cy! So ya made the brown and blacks and made sense of what the Capitol was doing!” The Hawthorne brothers best understood what was going on here, but pretty much everybody got the concept, and this moment would make a good centerpiece to the rebels’ propaganda barrage to help capitalize on this victory.

 

Hovercraft carrying students and school staff from District Twelve had already taken off for District Thirteen, and the miners were obviously just boarding now, but many Townies were also getting on the last flights. One of the Town boys happened to have been walking around at the start of the battle, and he was one Katniss knew particularly well – Peeta Mellark. On the flight back, he got out paper and pencil, and started drawing. Raspberry taking aim to fire the shot heard across the country was a split-second moment, yet Peeta had been in just the right spot to have the scene placed firmly in his consciousness, and he now placed it firmly on the sheet before him.

 

“Nice guys finish last,” Peeta muttered, but loud enough to be overheard.

“Because they make sure the women they’re with finish first,” Rory joked. “But seriously, you never even asked Katniss, and Gale’s more appealing than you give him credit for. You shouldn’t expect her to be able to read your mind.” _Sometimes she can barely read her own_ , Rory thought of his sister-in-law.

 

“The dice have been cast and are landing in our favor,” Patrick Lazare I assessed.


	29. Happiest Birthdays

It was tiring to fight a war after watching your brother and sister in the Games. The District Two contingent was particularly concerned with getting their home district out of Capitol hands. General Lazare got President Coin to change the war plan to focus on his district.

 

The rebels weren’t yet able to besiege the main Peacekeeper fortress there – either Thirteen didn’t have the strength or the Capitol still had too much of it. Even if rebels surrounded that place, the Capitol might be able to break out, or attack the rebel soldiers with Peacekeepers from elsewhere.

 

However, a few days after Twelve, the rebellion attacked some training camps out in the open, wrecking the facilities and taking many prisoners. Hannibal was in charge of interrogating the captured drill sergeants.

Some Peacekeeper recruits were already ideologically committed to the Capitol. For instance, the men at the firing range had turned against the rebel troops.

Yet most of the trainees practically worshipped the Victors, especially their hometown heroes. This helped lead a lot of people into resisting the Capitol. Even if not converts per se, some liked to fight and may as well fight against the Capitol. “We thought the white was our fight, since we weren’t elite enough for yours,” one of the young men told Patrick II.

“Maybe it’s the gray,” he replied.

“Maybe,” the captured recruit tentatively agreed. “No wonder the service oath forbids getting married and having children, something to be loyal to instead of the Capitol.”

“Apparently!” Patrick the Victor said.

“So your sister’s a hovercraft gunner and Lyme’s a staff officer, but where’s Cato?” the other young man continued.

Patrick II gave a straight answer. “Took a leg wound in Twelve. Could’ve died only a few days after his daughter was born. That’s a bit of what really happens in war. Make sure to respect the medics.” Rory hoped he wouldn’t be further wounded in similar circumstances.

 

Thirteen planned something called Operation Guest. The rebels intended to rescue some of the other victors. The timing and name was to have them present for the upcoming milestones in the lives of their latest comrades. The District One breakout was on March 23rd. Alex Hawkins’ unit gained five more victor soldiers. The District Thirteen Army also recruited a young woman who was anything but a victor; Lustre Shinesmith had lost her big sister to the arena four years ago. Other victors were brought to safety throughout the rest of the month.

 

            “Who’s one year old today? Yes, you are!” Gale cooed at his twins.

            “Has it been a year? Judging by the sleep I’ve gotten, I thought it was only a few months,” Katniss answered.

 

Prim went into labor in early May. Katniss Ingrid would be the aunt of Ingrid Katniss when turning 20. Sage and Jacob were also eager to meet baby Ingrid. They were crawling into Prim’s room. Jacob sort of stood up with his mother supporting him. “Baby!” he said, bringing his hands together.

            “Is that my nephew’s first word? Proud momma and proud auntie all at once?” Prim answered.

 

            Prim and Rory still planned to get married on her upcoming birthday. “You’re having quite a busy month, Little Duck. Two of the big moments in life,” Katniss said happily.

 

            “Rory, I know you’re gentle with my baby girl, but you especially have to be like that while she recovers from giving birth,” Mrs. Everdeen admonished.

            “Even with her birthday coming up?” Rory asked.

            “I shan’t spoil your wedding night. But be careful,” she answered.

 

            The Mellarks, ever the bakers, would provide the wedding cake. The District Thirteen cooks were used to simple hard breads.

Peeta was a sweet boy, and hauling food on a healthy diet did not hurt his muscles. Some girl would be lucky to have him. That person apparently wasn’t Katniss; Gale was the man with the fire to match hers.

Peeta’s witch of a mother had turned him into a wreck, and his father wasn’t helping. Mr. Mellark didn’t stand up to his wife for their son. He was unable to get over his own feelings for Mrs. Everdeen, which certainly fueled his wife’s anger. Someone out there who loved Peeta would help him deal with that and would see the rest of him.

 

Peeta eventually got a chance to talk to Gale alone. “How can I have something like that with someone like that?” Mellark asked plaintively.

“You gotta move on, bread boy. Seems your father didn’t. I ain’t know what kinda girl it’s gonna be for you, but pour your energy into her,” Gale advised. He did want to help the boy, not just make him go away, though those two things had something in common.

“And things besides my energy?” Peeta said, smirking.

 

            Another part of the wedding was also easy to plan. “Of course she’d wear her big sister’s wedding dress. Katniss had married me in it because she had been wearing it when I told her I loved her, said I made her happy in it,” Gale explained to Cato. “But I wasn’t really making her happy ‘till I got her out of it,” he jokingly added.

 

Cato had never got to see his parents together, not even for too short of a time, so Gale had left Mr. and Mrs. Everdeen’s part out of the story. Since Cato had lost his father to the Games, it wasn’t so hard to turn him against the Capitol when the opportunity presented itself. After all, the aggressive young men had been getting along quite well once they agreed about the essential matter of recognizing the Capitol was evil.

 

Sapphire, District One’s victor from seven years ago, spoke up after the ceremony. “Even if, especially if, you’re a victor, the Capitol doesn’t let us settle down and live in peace. But you of all people especially deserve to.”

“Wise words from the second most beautiful woman in the room,” Rory answered. Ms. Silversmith was known for her swordfighting, but also her impossibly tall and voluptuous figure, so to call her the second was high praise of his bride. Prim smiled further, apparently the first one to get it.

“Mr. Hawthorne’s assessment seems reasonable,” Patrick II deadpanned. Prim and Sapphire were both gorgeous for their body types. Even if the new Mrs. Hawthorne wasn’t comparably pretty, Rory would say it and mean it. This war was looking like it might actually secure the future they deserved. For both birthdays, Katniss was almost happier for her sister than the older Everdeen was for herself.


	30. The Crumbling Capitol

The rebellion wanted to see the Capitol’s advantages expanded to more of Panem, especially the people whose work made those advantages possible. The Capitol’s superb medical technology was a prime example. Rory’s leg wasn’t limiting him on the battlefield. Him being at the Battle of District 12 wasn’t just a home district emergency, and that showed he could function well. However, he wouldn’t be using his right leg as a weapon. Whatever he was doing, he was growing as used to the leg as he was going to get.

 

After the training camp raid, the rebellion continued a strategy of attacking Capitol military infrastructure. Since Twelve, they were largely avoiding confronting peacekeepers directly, or cutting off general supplies.

 

Alexander Hawkins’ unit was number 451, called Star Team for its famous soldiers. The large squad was now nearly a platoon. Most platoons were led by lieutenants, but Alexander had been promoted to captain after the recruit depot action.

 

Near the end of May, they shipped out to District Three. The idea was to quickly sabotage a United Steel factory, one of the Capitol’s major weapons manufacturers. The unit managed to break into a storage room after eliminating its sentries. The rebel troops scanned further into the complex. “What’s the Personnel Security Force doing here?” Captain Hawkins muttered, using the official name for the brown and blacks.

“I see why. I know him all too well,” Soldier Silversmith answered. She pointed out Vulcan Steele, son and heir of company owner Hephaestus. Vulcan was one of the Capitol men Sapphire had been seen with.

“Want the first shot?” Hawkins offered. Finnick smiled ruefully.

“He’s not really the problem. His father sent me to him,” Sapphire reported.

“Fire at Peacekeepers,” Hawkins ordered.

 

The survivors returned fire at the rebel officers. “Sarge?” Alexander called out. Nero and Justinian had been with him since the beginning of this conflict, but there was no response from either of them. Track Smith of District Six was unhit.

After the skirmish, Vulcan stuck his hands up. “I intend to defect,” he explained. “I can’t believe what I was unwittingly a part of. After Finnick announced being pimped out by Snow, I figured Sapphire may also have been involved.”

“I was.”

“I swear, I had no idea. I’m disgusted,” Vulcan said nervously.

“Time to mend the error of your ways,” Alexander said gruffly.

 

Vulcan didn’t sound an alarm, saying the problem was already resolved, which gave the rebels more time to work. The demolitions experts could be more deliberate. The infantry support could seize weapons rather than destroy them.

 

“Sharpshooter rifles,” Sergeant Smith pointed out. They were finely machined for increased accuracy at range; this was a good unit to have them.

“Looks like you brought enough for everybody,” one of his squad members responded.

Those were the jewel of the haul; this factory focused on special weapons produced in relatively small quantities. “Where are the throwing knives?” Cato asked.

“A conscientious husband,” Alex offered, wishing that he had thought of it first. Likewise, it seemed that Maria wanted some for herself.

 

“District Two women sure do love those things,” Vulcan said.

“Apparently,” Cato agreed sarcastically. “I’m confident that Clove would have won the previous Games with them if it weren’t for our daughter.”

“My thanks to little Teresa,” Rory said darkly.

 

Vulcan grabbed a pistol as he led them in the right direction. “You know what you’re doing with that thing, rich boy?” Johanna questioned.

“I did learn how to use my family’s products,” he replied pleasantly enough. “We aren’t all socialites.”

 

“Maybe I can join your forces. I do try to stay in shape to Peacekeeper standards.” He _was_ fit, though he wouldn’t have been Sapphire’s type even if it weren’t for Snow’s circumstances.

“There’s also a lot of mental conditioning to it, but it’s a possibility,” Boggs assessed. “And I bet a Capitolite in arms for us would go over real well with Coin.”

 

This factory inspection provided him with an opportunity to switch sides; he had bided his time since Finnick’s revelation. Amongst other things, Vulcan brought much of his wealth with him, including multi-thousand-credit notes for more than a victor won in a year.

 

He knew this was the right thing to do, but felt it was also a sensible decision. “I can see where this war is going, and may as well get on the good side of it,” he explained.

“The new Panem will buy weapons too,” Rock translated.

 

Mountains weren’t exclusive to District Two; rebel hovercraft hid in the shadow of one here in addition to the obvious cloaking. Thirteen’s forces and their new ally retreated to that point without incident.

 

Cato presented the knives to Clove as-is. “I love you and our baby but I do miss this,” Clove said as she opened the box, relishing the feel of the perfectly weighted handle in her hand.

 

Annie’s victor talent was to build a coin collection largely with victor winnings. Vulcan’s wealth helped with that, especially large new Capitol-design pieces, or any of the three factors.

 

Vulcan did well enough in training. He was assigned to none other than 451. Coin and her aides did see the appeal of a Capitol soldier, especially since the unit already had personnel form all thirteen districts.

 

Clove would be sworn in on her upcoming birthday, but Soldier Steele’s first deployment came before that. The rebellion was making a major push to liberate District 11. Rue’s father had advised his comrades that conditions in 11 were even worse than 12, but that couldn’t fully prepare them for actually being there. The natives of The Seam were shocked, let alone the Capitol man. “Thought y’all had it bad,” a familiar voice said. Theseus was a young Peacekeeper who had frequented the Hob.

“Seconded,” the similarly situated Ariadne stated.

 

This was a combat mission, again targeting Peacekeeper infrastructure. Things like barracks, armories, and supply depots fell to Thirteen’s weaponry. Eleven’s Peacekeepers were easier to defeat once cut off, but that was relative – it nevertheless remained a bloody task.

 

451 consisted of elite soldiers used as such, but their fame also lent itself to propaganda purposes. Charity activities were part of their orders for Eleven. District Thirteen was somewhat more serials than the Capitol in providing for the districts, though both expected district folk to provide for them. Katniss of all people knew what a small gift of food could mean. Likewise, Peeta smiled as he hefted a box of the donations.

 

During the battle of District Ten, a lot of beef products had been captured before leaving for the Capitol. Some of the jerky was being distributed here. The reduced weight and space made it easier to carry, and could be eaten as is, unlike some field rations. There was also some chocolate, due to Lyme being Lyme. She loved the stuff, and rationalized its inclusion well. It was also energy-dense, just with sugar and fat instead of protein, and the treat would make an even bigger impression than regular food.

 

Vulcan’s money was also popular. Several people had said that if he wanted to share his wealth, this would be a good time. He’d put coins in the charity bags along with the food packets. The ravenous populace tore into the food and smiled at the silver. “I simply put a denarius in with everybody’s portion,” he explained.

“A whole denarius? The thirty-two credit one?” Rue’s father said incredulously.

“What, like that’s a lot?” Steele shot back.

“It most certainly is,” Clayton pointed out.

 

“Rebel gifts!” Cashmere called out as they approached a shack. A victor’s voice helped authenticate such messages. These people were all too familiar with Peacekeeper raids, especially in troubled times like these.

One woman in the hovel needed something besides food and money. She was sick from a rough birth in these conditions. The soldiers’ first aid kits wouldn’t cut it. “I’m lucky to have healers for a mother and sister. Can’t imagine not seeing my babies grow up,” Katniss said while waiting on the medics.

 

The new mother got a powerful course of antibiotics. That was a relatively minor thing, but made a huge difference. “For lack of parts, a train wouldn’t run. Without that train, soldiers were stranded. Without those troops, their battle and war was lost,” Alex mused. The rebels’ outlook wasn’t so bleak, partially because of Thirteen’s organization. It worked on a small scale here and was working on a large scale throughout the country.


	31. A Different Arena

There would be no 78th Games. That was a primary condition of the past victors’ support, to ensure there would be no more like them and no more had to be sent to the tributes’ cemeteries. The Capitol couldn’t allow this, but they weren’t in much of a situation to force it either.

 

If the Capitol wasn’t able to get any tributes at all, the last remnants of its power would be swept away. This year, there would be a different sort of preparations for reaping day. Even a usual year’s extra security would leave the Capitol stretched thin, let alone a year of widespread open rebellion. It seemed impossible to enrage the Capitol any further; this rebellion had long since passed the point of no return.

 

            Twelve had been totally evacuated. Four, Ten and Eleven were mostly in rebel hands. The Capitol had the sense to stay away from them rather than throw troops into pointless assaults. People called President Snow many things, but not stupid.

 

            Two was a stalemate; if it weren’t for the heavy rebel presence, the district would be an outright advantage for the Capitol. Rebel saboteurs were keeping Peacekeepers more than occupied. The Capitol was starting to doubt its own forces over real and imagined infiltrators. Even the staunch loyalists were feeling the mental strain. However, Thirteen’s forces weren’t able to attack the major fortress and Capitol troops didn’t have the strength for a breakout.

 

            District Nine and its food supply was the major battleground at this point. It made much of Panem’s alcohol, whether from its own grain or agricultural products of other districts. Haymitch thought it was a darn shame that the material was being used for food instead of fermentation. Some of the other grain was usually used as animal feed.

 

            The rebellion arrived in force early July when the winter wheat was well ripened, as soon as District Thirteen’s logistics would allow while still keeping the harvest out of Capitol hands. “Great stuff for bread, I’d like to pick up a few sacks,” Peeta said.

“Seems Bridget Larkin has suddenly developed quite a taste for bread,” Darius pointed out.

“And I’m quite glad to help her with that,” Peeta answered.

“Apparently you have a thing for dark-haired singers,” Darius said.

“Voices as beautiful as they are,” Peeta said sweetly.

 

            “Will the farmhands be willing and able to put in a cover crop?” Winnow wondered.

            “Translate,” her squad commander Track Smith ‘requested’.

            “Not stuff you use, stuff you leave there to re-fertilize the land,” she explained.

 

            The fields were under heavy guard, diverting personnel from the Peacekeeper base. Clove would start silently with her knives before the whole formation opened fire. Her comrades also saw the opportunity to revive their arena skills. “Livia, you take Clove, Enobaria and Maria to neutralize the barracks guards,” Alexander ordered. The armory was further inside the compound, but there was still some weaponry in the troop quarters for emergencies like, well, this.

 

            Rory watched Clove’s blades fly. “Glad I didn’t have to face that! Cato, again, thank you for knocking her up,” he said.

            “It was most definitely my pleasure…” Cato said, and the other soldiers around them also chuckled.

 

            “Open fire!” Alex interrupted. Thirteen’s army swarmed in. Most of Star Team remained outside on the perimeter, yet the former Peacekeepers would know what to look for inside, and the Hawthorne brothers had a sense of what might be a booby trap.

 

            At the next lull in the battle, the unit put in new magazines, even though their current ones were only partially empty. “People see my family life and what came from it as one of my more celebrated accomplishments, and I’m inclined to agree,” Cato the victor finished.

            “Certainly helped me and Prim,” Rory responded.

            “Prim and I,” Regina corrected. She was a District Three intellectual to the core, but those made for ignominious last words.

 

            Another District Nine trooper shot Cyrus in the same skirmish. “Hands off my brother, you deluded fool!” That Peacekeeper had refused to surrender, let alone defect, and Darius took the shot after the young man had been given his last chance.

 

Prim’s unit was somewhere else; Ariadne pulled a wounded Cyrus out of the way towards other medics. Even Peacekeepers seemed to leave healers alone. Maybe that was to ensure the same treatment of their own, a smaller version of Thirteen and the Capitol having a tacit agreement to not use nukes on each other. Also, some individual Peacekeepers were leaning on rebel help as things got worse for the Capitol.

 

            The diminished garrison kept firing as they fled. As the buildings were being cleared, the field guards started returning. They’d had to deal with the workers first and the rebels didn’t want to know how. Winnow would not see her district and its people freed, as she fell in the next volley of the counterattack. Yet the rebels held the base and there wasn’t much the Capitol loyalists could do at that point.

 

            “I’m proud of our field troops again, especially you ladies,” Lyme said as rebel forces once more returned to District Thirteen.

            “So you got out knives in Nine. Excellent,” Mary Hawkins added. Her air battle had been inconclusive, unlike the clear anti-Capitol success on the ground.

 

District Two, including The Nut, was to the west of the Capitol, so it didn’t directly block an approach from the east. However, its garrison could disrupt any strike on the city, especially with rebel forces diverted from the standoff in Two.

Yet they couldn’t hold out forever. Losing access to Nine’s harvest seemed to be the last blow to their dwindling supplies. Star Team wasn’t there when the breakout attempt occurred, but that was repulsed nevertheless. Some of the civilian workers turned against the garrison, impeding their charge out. The rebels hadn’t been able to storm the entrances - _until now_.

 

“We captured a fortress by starving out the defenders? What year is it, again?” wondered Fulvia, the assistant to Coin’s assistant Plutarch/

Thirteen debated whether to occupy the fortress, worrying about a secret method for a Capitol counterattack. “However, we know most of that city’s secrets, and this is too good of an opportunity to pass up,” Plutarch advised.

 

Much of mid-July was spent transferring rebel forces there. Thirteen would’ve had to stage an attack on the Capitol anyway.

 

The Capitol had faced a tough time getting supplies past the rebels in Two, but they wouldn’t have had a problem transporting what they had to their own city. How willing were they to cut off civilian luxuries in these trying times?

 

            Teresa Anthony was more than friendly with Quentin Lancaster I as the seed of a celebratory mood spread through Panem. “Well, it would be easier to explain a new sibling to a child who already has a kid of his own,” she said, having a feeling it would come to that.

 

That city faced overwhelming firepower especially with the Nut changing hands. Rebels quickly advanced through the ground and air as July faded. “Good to be home, and to make it an even better place,” Vulcan said. As usual, defectors from the area helped guide the rebels.

 

            Capitol resistance fizzled out on what would have been Reaping Day. Many of the victorious soldiers and aircrew would have been eligible for that. A group of them would be sent in to meet with Caesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith. Flavia Hawkins was the only one of them on Star Team, so she got her first command leading in Victor Hawthorne, Quentin Lancaster II and Lustre Shinesmith. Claudius greeted the ad hoc unit. “In another time, I would have been congratulating a victor, but, Panem, I’d say that everyone in the country won the 78th Hunger Games.”


	32. Epilogue

A girl bounded into her father’s room, hair bouncing. It’s her father’s blond, but set in her mother’s lightning bolt braids. She saw her father looking through a book of photos of the mother, his wife Clove. The girl looks over her father’s shoulder to see her mother’s wry smile. That helps little Teresa tell big bad Cato what she had come in here to say. “Daddy, I also think girls are pretty,” she says cheerfully.  
“Smart girl,” Cato answers with his usual booming confidence. Great, I’ll have to protect her from girlfriends instead of boyfriends, his protective paternal instincts told him. “That’s my daughter, knowing who she is and what she wants. Mommy’s like that too, I’ll bet she’ll be glad to hear it.”

Across the country, another girl was also spending time with one of her favorite people in the world, her aunt Katniss. The other Hawthornes and Everdeens often called Ingrid Hawthorne ‘mini-Catnip’ with good reason. “Auntie Catnip?” she asks.  
“Yes, Ingrid?” Katniss responds.  
“I think I’m like your friend Madge,” little Ingrid explained  
“You’re a girl who loves other girls?” Katniss pointed out in the form of a question.  
“Like my favorite auntie loves boys,” Ingrid said proudly.  
“One special boy,” Katniss said of the girl’s Uncle Gale. “I hope you can find one girl who’s just as special.”

Uncle Vick liked both boys and girls. He’d married Delly’s younger brother; they and the twin Castle women were four people who shared four kids.

The more time Ingrid’s parents spent with their fellow victor Cato, the more time she spent with his first child Teresa. Ingrid Hawthorne and Teresa Adams also found true love at a young age.

Madge and her wife Anna were glad to be role models for the girl, and were overjoyed to be some of the first people besides relatives invited to the wedding. They wouldn’t have far to travel, as the couple had picked District 12 to share their lives in. Finnick II had done the same for Posy last spring; they would be the most recently married couple at the new wedding.

Teresa had two siblings, four counting her namesake’s daughters, but many more cousins. Alexander and Flavia each had huge families, even bigger than Katniss and Gale’s four or Prim and Rory’s six. “Twenty-four grandbabies! I thought I had my hands full with ten!” Ingrid Everdeen told Ivy Hawkins. Hawkins and Lazare had followed Hawthorne and Everdeen in a pair of siblings marrying another pair of siblings when Flavia wed Patrick II. 

The fetuses whose existence changed the country’s future grew up to be women madly in love with each other. The new century was off to an auspicious start. The last generation had crafted it into something brighter, and the start of the next generation sealed their love that day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought of that ending well before Obergefell v Hodges, though I happened to post soon after.


End file.
